Celestial Academy
by BlackWolf2Dragoon
Summary: Okami in highschool! A new student enters Celestial Academy, usual high school drama. M rated for drugs, alcohol, sex, abuse, AmmyxWaka, mention of yaoi aka AbexKamo.
1. Gossip

Yes, I'm back again, annoying little pest aren't I? This time... with a crazy idea!  
I thought whilst looking at a bunch of a load of Twilight fanfics... why aren't there more in different places more then JUST Twilight?

So here we are, this is my version of a schoolified Okami! I hope you like it and what I've done to the characters.

Issun fans... please... _don't kill me! _This is just how I imagine Issun to act if he were a school kid, I'm sure most of you would agree with my opinion. Issun was (and still is to me) one bad companion to have, only 30 percent of what he actually had to say was of any use to me, honestly. Plus he is a horny bastard.

This is rated M for a reason, yes we have sex later, yes lemons, yes drugs, yes smoking, yes alcohol, THE WHOLE LOT. At least, that is what I'm intending to do, you guys deserve it... and, c'mon, I don't see very many sex, alcohol loving Okami fics out there, WHERE ARE THEY? Well, this is MY one and I hope it'll work out, it'll be interesting seeing some alcohol and shit loving Okami characters, you have to agree!

Oh and to say, I will be switching point of views from time to time, just to let you know... so far, I'm thinking of it going Ammy, Waka, Ammy, Waka... this is about Ammy and Waka guys! It's an AmmyxWaka fic! Like Issun could have a relationship with Ammy... pfft. But Oki... he's nice, but not Ammy's type, sorry.

I am my own beta, I don't need one don't want one, don't offer, thanks but no thanks.

Keep in mind I have **NO IDEA WHATSOEVER HOW AMERICAN SCHOOLS WORK, OR EVEN JAPANESE SCHOOLS FOR THAT MATTER, I'M BRITISH. **Before you go all prof on me and try to find a million and one reasons why this is impossible. Keep that in mind.

Disclaimer~ All the characters so far I know belong to Clover Studios, not Ready at Dawn! Ready at Dawn just merely did out of the courtesy of their hearts, make Okami into a Wii game, which sort of worked if the fact attacking wasnt so spazzy! The plot is mine, all mine! Nyaa...

**NOTICE~ I've had to make a few changes, because my sister decided to tell me how a Japanese student dresses for a Japanese school AFTER I uploaded this chapter... geez, she's so fucking useless! (haha not really lmao)**

* * *

Gossip

**Amaterasu's POV**

School, if there was one thing I wasn't looking forward to, it was definitely school. I had been enjoying the summer break, sitting outdoors enjoying the sunlight, a break from the more industrial area with the bad mannered and able to escape into my own little world. An escape from _him _too.

By him, I mean Issun Boshi, the possibly most sexually frustrated, perverted and inappropriate boy in my class. He was the "annoying immature kid" of the class; every class has one, sadly. I've seen that he had been eyeing me most lessons, to make things worse, he was in most of my lessons. The only help I would manage to get was from my good friends Sakuya, Himiko and Oki.

Sakuya was always beautiful, the guys always looked at her and she was the kind to have a different boyfriend every 3 months, but she was a good friend to me and was always very kind to me.

Himiko was the more forceful one, but still considered peoples feelings. She was a great leader to our little gang and let nobody bring us down, nobody would dare fight with her, she would always be able to hurt you back worse.

Oki was the more silent type, a boy in his own little world. He did have a best friend, Samickle, but recently Samickle had been off school with a broken leg, how he got it was a mystery to me, but probably over the summer break. Oki had asked me one night if it was acceptable that he would join us until Samickle got better. Since I liked Oki and was completely fine with how he admitted his crush on me, I told him it was fine.

When Oki admitted his crush on me a few weeks before summer break, I wasn't sure what to think. One thing I knew, I didn't have the same feelings for him as he did of me, so I politely declined but told him I would continue being best friends with him. I felt bad for hurting him, but he would want me to be happy, I wouldn't have been happy being with him in a relationship. Besides, I had never been on a relationship before; I was picky on judging people. It's like I've got a 6th sense about people, I know how good or bad they are just by being with them for 5 minutes.

7:00am, my alarm goes off, but I was already awake. I was always an early bird; 7am was nothing to me. I loved watching the sunrise and had a habit of waking up every time the sun rose, of course, when winter comes around, I often lie in slightly because of the fact the sun hadn't risen yet.

I sighed and headed for the bathroom, a shower is something I might need this morning. Before I headed in, I checked myself in the mirror. Pale as always, pink irises staring back at me through the reflection, hair long and white as always, a normal look apart from the fact of me being an albino. I just had to be one, didn't I? A freak.

Sighing once again, I undressed myself from my pyjamas and warmed the shower up. Once the right temperature, I headed inside. Alone with my thoughts, I went on thinking about whether Izanagi would be up yet or not. Izanagi was my uncle, who agreed to keep custody for me after my parents were killed by the flu. He was upset and didn't speak for many days, but he eventually got over it and moved on, taking care of me. He was currently interested in a girl named Nami with a daughter in my class the same age called Kushi. I didn't see Kushi often, as nice as she was, because she was always with her boyfriend, Susano. He wasn't the brightest, or the kindest, I often thought she could do better, but I knew deep down despite all his mistakes, Susano really cared for Kushi, he just stupidly did mistake after mistake. I envy Kushi's patience.

My uncle's job was currently farming, which of course meant I lived far from civilization, I liked it that way, so I was in no way complaining. Our only trouble was foxes stealing life stock, but I begged uncle to just lay simple traps and release the animals, I hated the idea of killing any animals, they were so innocent and only worked by instinct. They didn't realise that what they were doing was wrong or a bad thing, they just wanted to feed themselves to survive. Uncle agreed, luckily.

Getting out from a refreshing shower, I got changed into my uniform, a blue skirt reaching just stopped knee length, white socks with blue ordinary looking shoes, white shirt collared with a blue tie with a dark blue wooly jacket, just to keep my skin from the sun and headed downstairs to get my breakfast. Glancing at Izanagi's bedroom before I went down, it was closed, he was still asleep. Relief, I wasn't in the mood to deal with his talks about school and how important it was to study so I don't end up in the same boat as him.

In the kitchen, I got some toast ready, having no time to get anything better. Checking my phone whilst waiting for the toast to be toasted, just the usual ask from Oki if I would walk with him to school. I replied saying I'd agree and I would make sure the walk there would be a fine one of just two friends walking to school, nothing more. I didn't always understand the technology these days, my phone was like from the Stone Age, but so long as it worked and I would be able to call people, that was fine by me.

Grabbing my bag and finishing up my toast, I headed outside to meet Oki. He arrived 5 minutes later with a small smile on his face.

"Hey, Ammy." Oki greeted me with that slight smile on his face. He always wore a blue looking mask over his face, he told me and others it was because he was stuck in a forest fire and it burnt his face so badly it couldn't be repaired, reason for the mask to cover it up. Reason for it looking in the shape of a bat or something was beyond me, nobody except himself and his doctor have looked under that mask. He was wearing his own uniform, simple black trousers, black shoes, black collared shirt with a single white stripe going down the collar of his shirt and no jacket, I suppose he found no use for it still being summer, just.

"Hello, Oki." I returned the greeting, seeing him wearing the everyday sort of clothes. "Looking forward to school today?"

Oki shook his head, "Not especially, but I heard from a rumour from Miss Giant Tits that there's a new guy joining our class." That was new to me; I hadn't heard anything about that. Miss Giant Tits was our nickname for the school's slut, Rao. Personally, I was surprised she wasn't pregnant yet, her and her friend Nine. Nine was a bit more aggressive then her stocked friend, reasons were beyond me. I swear she took some kind of illegal substances, reason for her big aggression like that must lie within them, or drinking. Sake never really caught my heart, if I ever drunk any, it was a small amount so I wouldn't lose myself to it.

"A new guy?" I asked, my voice sounding as surprised as I was feeling. _Wonder what this guy is going to be like._ Probably no different from the rest, 24/7 thinking of sex, ugh.

Oki nodded, "Yes, they said he was travelling from Fukushima, suppose it's not totally surprising." Coming to a place like Kitakata, yes a surprise. There were no big roads nearby here really, we were in the middle of nowhere with Lake Hibara being closest.

"Well, suppose we'll see him soon, can't see us not spotting him. Rao and Nine will be all over him." I felt sorry for the guy already, Rao and Nine always loved new guys, mostly because they were too gullible to figure out they were out for sport, not companionship. However, I do recall some guys liked it that way, I guess I'd just have to wait until I meet this guy before I pass judgement on him.

"Better late then never, let's head to class before we get into some crap." Oki chuckled slightly before turning to head for school. It was only a 10 minute walk to school but having a companion around really made a difference.

The outside grounds were as always, filled with tyrants. Oki and I made our way to the door before he stopped me, grabbing my wrist, causing me to turn to face him.

"What is it, Oki?" He seemed nervous when I looked at him; I only hoped he wasn't going to ask again. You know what I mean when I say that.

"Well, Ammy… I was just wondering…" He started, then the bell came interrupting him. Saved by the bell, cliché.

"Sorry, Oki, I've got to head for class, I'll see you at lunch ok?" I told him, giving him a quick smile before I turned and walked rather fast towards my music class. I felt sorry for Oki, but I knew what he was going to ask and I was going to say no anyway, why bother sticking around if he knew the answer anyway?

Getting to class early, miraculously, I found it almost empty. I picked my seat near the back where I would be able to concentrate without feeling stared at or paranoid. I relaxed quickly, waiting until the class had officially started. I decided to doodle in my notebook to pass the time, nobody would care either way. Today we would just be talking about the topics and many things we have scheduled to be done this year; it would all have to be done on time. Mrs Orange didn't really appreciate work being late, but she wouldn't exactly cut your head off either. Yes, Mrs Orange was her real name, besides, even if it wasn't we'd call her that behind her back, since she had an orange everyday for lunch.

Jumping suddenly hearing that the room was now rather crowded, despite that I always sat by myself, the only seat left available. Putting my notebook away back in my bag, I got out my music folder, getting out the syllabus of what we were going to do for music this year. Most likely, it would be coursework and making up your own song to play for the examiner when the time came to be assessed.

"Ok, everyone, settle down!" Mrs Orange called us to attention and silence. "Now please, get out your syllabuses and we can begin going through the activities and coursework that must be done this year in time before the final exams hit. If you don't, it will be added work for next year." Everybody groaned at that, but we accepted the conditions anyway, just often other kids preferred to be dramatic over it. Attention seekers, indeed.

"For now, we have little work to be done until lunch break when the next music lesson comes along. So, for now, we'll just focus on the discussion of the coursework." That's pretty much how the rest of the lesson went, talk about coursework and how important it was to our work, adding to 30% of our work, of course.

Time crawled in music and I was glad the gods saved me when the bell rang for next lesson, English. Most of the time, I managed to do alright there, but writing the English language was quite complicated. I wasn't sure why the English wished to make things difficult by spelling a word completely different to what it sounds like most of the time. Whoever made these words up must've been on some dangerous levels of sake (or alcohol as I was told the English referred it to) or drugs, I go with the sake.

Getting to English, I found Himiko sitting in the seat situated next to mine. I smiled, glad she was in school today, I couldn't wait to hear how her life had been going on. Walking to my seat, I sat down with my bag put down under my table before I turned to look at Himiko.

"No big hello for me, then?" I questioned her, faking sadness in both my voice and eyes, those pink irises of mine. Himiko jumped slightly before looking at me with a smile.

"Ammy, sorry I didn't see you there, I was contemplating matters going on inside my head privately, and it's so good to see you again!" Himiko said with enthusiasm. She really was a good friend to me; I would hate to see her turn against me or leave me to fend for myself.

"It's great to see you too, I'm sorry I couldn't make it to movie night last week before school would hit, Izanagi needed help." I apologised. We usually had a movie night every Thursday at Himiko's house, since it had the biggest TV, me, her and Sakuya would go there and mostly watch chick flicks or humorous movies.

Himiko giggled. "It's alright, don't worry about it, we watched Marley and Me this time." Dammit, I had wanted to watch that, better luck next time, I suppose.

"Damn, do you mind if I could borrow it tomorrow and return it the next day? I really wanted to watch that." I asked, knowing that she would say yes anyway.

"Of course you can! I say that's fair, you did tell me you wanted to watch it sometime, just a nuisance it was picked this time." Told you so.

"Thanks, Himiko." I smiled to her.

"Oh, by the way, I've seen the new guy, I talked to him a bit, he seems like a nice guy." Oh, was he now? "He looks a bit odd at first, but once you talk to him, he seems like a shy person, a bit like you." That was unexpected, never thought of anyone acting like me.

"What do you mean by 'looks a bit odd'?" I asked, curiosity getting to me, most likely I would want nothing to do with this new student, but I decided I may as well get to know the details, so I knew what to expect.

"Well... it's hard to explain, just his hat... you'll see when you see him." She said simply before keeping quiet when Miss Fuse, our English teacher, came into the room and demanded silence. I turned to face the front, thinking over about what to expect from this mysterious character. So, at least I knew it was a male student, that much was obvious, but everything else seemed a puzzle for me to solve, he was shy, Himiko had told me, but what else? Nothing, it seems. I'll just have to wait until he appears in one of my classes before I'm able to find anything else out.

Class ending once again, I got up to leave. Himiko got to the door before me, since she didn't bother getting any of her writing stuff out since it was the first day back from summer break, and waited for me beside the door. Before I could get there, however, a smallish boy blocked my way. Issun Boshi, of course, crap.

"Hey, Amaterasu." Issun greeted me in his usual annoying sense of greeting. "Where are you going?"

I sighed, "To class, I really have to go, so I can't stop to chat." I tried going around him, but he held out an arm stopping me, I stepped back to not give him the pleasure of touching me in any way, not even an arm touching me barely would I allow, he'd just push for more if I gave him the satisfaction.

"Aw, c'mon, just for a minute or two. Sure you can't stay?" Issun pushed, the damn… asshole. I didn't really like cursing, Izanagi told me it was very bad manners and inappropriate to swear, so I try to restrict myself as much as possible, but in my head, nobody can hear me, but I try not to in case it accidently becomes a habit and I end up saying it aloud without any recollection of actually saying it.

"No, she can't." Himiko told him, coming to my rescue, thank god. "Butt out, Issun, she doesn't want to talk to you after that incident, piss off." She literally would've hissed at him if she was alone, but with me here she kept her anger in… most of it, anyway. She grabbed my arm and helped pull me away from Issun.

Being dragged away, I was reminded of the incident.

…

_Dammit, I was late for class, curse that teacher who can't keep his mouth shut. I ran through the almost abandoned corridors, trying to arrive to my next class before I got into some serious trouble._

_I bumped into something smaller then myself, but seemingly stronger. I fell down on my butt on the floor, dropping my books I had quickly picked up and was in too much of a hurry to bother putting them back in my bag._

"_Oof." The person groaned, probably slightly dazed from the impact._

"_I'm so sorry." I apologised to the unfortunate by-passer. I looked up and saw the last person on earth I had wanted to see, Issun Boshi._

"_Oh, hey Ammy, no worries, I'm hard as rock." He grinned. Yes, I'm sure you are, just in the wrong places. I stayed silent whilst I picked up my books; Issun didn't help at all, only sorting out his own pleasure via staring at my ass, most likely, and dreaming up about me in his own perverted mind. I stood up as I collected all of my books and pushed past Issun. Before I got out of range, however, Issun 'unconsciously' and 'without any idea at all' touched a very inappropriate place on my chest. I near squeaked and turned to glare at Issun with my best death glare._

_Issun put his hands up in surrender. "It was an accident! Sorry, Ammy." The little liar. The callous liar. How dare he! He won't hear the end of it, mark my words._

"_Just... stay away from me; I don't want to speak to you again." I told him simply, quietly, not allowing my anger to get the better of me. Izanagi training me to be able to defend myself in case of any guys who wished to take advantage of me was a great idea, it just wasn't really recommended in a place like this high school. _He's not worth it, _I told myself, _just walk on, tell Himiko and get it over with. _I turned on my heels, my hair probably flying and swishing in the air, and walked off rather fast towards my class, eager to let Himiko know on what had happened._

_Getting to Himiko wasn't hard; she must've gotten anxious and asked the teacher if she could go find me, because she was just walking out of our maths class to find me._

"_Himiko!" I called her, hoping not to be too late to catch her attention. She turned hearing my voice and seemed to sigh of relief, bless that girl had a heart of gold._

"_There you are!" She exclaimed and ran towards me, about to glomp me until she saw the mass of books I had in my arms. She refrained herself from hugging me and cleared her throat. "Where were you? It's not like you to be this late."_

_I sighed, getting ready to tell her the news; I knew I had to tell her, although I really didn't want to. Just thinking about it made me want to go to a corner to cry, I had never been touched in that way before, I really didn't want to either, only with a person I trusted more than with just my life, but my existence and soul._

"_Himiko... can we... I need to go to the bathroom." I stuttered out, Himiko instantly knew something big must've happened and she nodded, understanding that I needed a few minutes._

"_Did you want me to come with you?" She asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. I nodded, it would be easier to tell her in the bathrooms then out in the seemingly open area. She smiled slightly and nodded. "Alright, just give me a moment to tell Miss Tuskle that you need a moment to break down." She patted my shoulder before heading back through the door to the class. I decided to make my way to the bathroom, just for a moment alone to gather my thoughts, and most likely break down in tears. _

_Arriving in the bathrooms, I was grateful Issun didn't appear anywhere unexpectedly, I wasn't sure I could handle seeing him again. I went to a corner in the toilets before sitting down, pulling my knees to my chest and hid my face in my knees, letting out the tears I had been holding in since I told Issun to never talk to me again. It wasn't often I cried, I was sometimes bullied, of course, being an albino had it's disadvantages, but they had never really brought me down to tears like I had right now. What nerve that boy had, I couldn't really believe he had the nerve to do that, to me no less as well, trained to beat him to a pulp. But of course, he would know I wouldn't risk my angel records just to punch him in the face, I'll leave that for Himiko, I'm sure she would love to punch his face in so much it can't come back out._

_I heard footsteps coming into the toilets and I looked up spotting Himiko coming in to check on me. I smiled slightly, but I'm sure I had a tear running down my cheek. Himiko sighed a sad sigh, she hated to see me in any sort of pain, this one was bad emotional pain and shame._

"_Oh, Amaterasu." Himiko's voice was filled with sorrow, she was feeling sorry for me, but she was slightly confused as well, she had no idea what had brought this on, I never told her. "What happened to make you act this way."_

_I sniffed and got out a tissue I always kept with me, putting it to my nose so I could blow it. After blowing it, I looked back at her. "It's Issun... the teacher asked me to stay to talk to her about the exam problem I was having, and I was running late, so I was running towards Maths... that's when I bumped into him, I wasn't looking where I was going..." I hesitated, not sure if I should tell her, scared that she would burst into sudden rage at me. _

"_Go on..." Himiko urged, she was so good at convincing people to do things that were for their own good, it was almost impossible to be able to refuse her. If she ever became queen, I would really envy her._

"_I bent down to pick the books up, I had dropped them in the event of bumping into him, and when I stood up he..." I sighed, taking a deep breath. "He felt my breast up."_

"_HE WHAT!?" That did it, Himiko looked enraged, this is what I was worried about. Himiko stood up. "That no good arrogant, tiny brained, ill-witted little bastard! He's not getting away with this, wait until I catch him, oh, he'll be wishing for death!" She turned to head outside, she was going to go look for Issun._

"_Himiko, wait!" I yelled, not wanting her to leave, one for the reason that I was still in tears and in need of a friend to talk to, another so that she wouldn't go and rip out Issun's throat. "Please, sort him out later... I just really need a friend right now." She stopped and looked back at me, before nodding and smiling. She turned and walked towards me, squatting down beside me to talk to me, calming me down. It did the trick; I slowly calmed down and left the restroom later with a smile on my face with dried tear stains on my cheek nobody else will ever know the reason for._

...

It took me a month before I got over that, I never told Izanagi the reason I wasn't getting out of the house. He asked once but I shook my head, telling him I couldn't tell him yet, and he let it go, he knew trying to push it out of me was completely pointless.

Himiko stopped suddenly and I was brought back to the present to see where we were, lunch time, lucky. The canteen (also known as cafeteria, for those of you unable to understand the British term) was starting to become slightly crowded, it wasn't as bad as it could be, most of the students were probably looking for the new guy to go 'warm up', the gossip about the new guy was unbelievable, it's like they found their new play toy to go mess with. Blergh.

Grabbing a tray, picking out some little bits of a simple egg sandwich with orange juice and fruit salad, I followed Himiko to our usual table. Sakuya was already there, chatting to Oki. She saw me and looked up to wave at me with a smile on her face. I smiled back to her and took my seat next to her, as I usually did. She didn't have a boyfriend with her today, surprise, surprise.

"Hey, Ammy!" She eagerly then hugged me slightly, trying not to be too rough knowing I was sensitive to touch. It was hard to explain, a small touch could fell like a prick of a needle, whilst a widely ranged touch would feel a bit more comfortable. It was probably some weird touching condition that was incurable and you just have to live with it, it probably doesn't even have a name.

"Hello, Sakuya, how are you today?" I asked, being polite.

She shrugged, "Same ol', nothing different, I'm sorry you missed Marley and Me."

Oki looked at me, "You didn't turn up for your film night?" He sounded surprised.

I shook my head, "Sadly not, I was busy, my uncle asked me to help him with the farm work since autumn is coming soon and he needs to get as much food harvested as possible. We've been working hard over the summer, but I managed to get 742yen for the job I did, that's a day." I smiled, it wasn't much really since I worked for 6 hours but I accepted it, I would've helped my uncle even if he didn't have any money to give me.

"Nice, how many days did you help your uncle?" Himiko asked, curious.

"About 4 days." I told her and she smiled, hugging me again.

"Aw, that's great, Ammy! You've got some money so we can go shopping now!" Sakuya let out excitedly. I grimaced; I wasn't the shopping kind of girl, that was a dream for Sakuya, she loved shopping more then most guys.

"I'm not sure, I still need to help my uncle for a few days with the harvesting and getting everything ready for the coming winter. You know farming becomes difficult when winter finally hits, with snow and everything." Sakuya's face dropped but she nodded, understanding and put on a smile for me.

"That's ok, that means you'll have even more money ready to be more prepared for a shopping trip." She squealed, whilst I inwardly groaned.

"Is shopping your lifestyle or something?" Oki asked, with slight humour in his voice

Sakuya glared at him. "Now, now fireman, no need to ruin my moment." We all laughed and began our conversations. Talking about what we had been doing over the summer break, the timetable, the homework and exams we were expecting coming soon, already.

Then it turned to about the new boy.

"So, has everybody seen him?" Sakuya asked, excitement in her voice. _Oh brother. _"He looks gorgeous, doesn't he?" Himiko nodded, unable to deny the fact.

"Yes, he looked rather strange... but man, does he have a face!"

"I know! You just want to ravish it!"

I sighed and turned away from the conversation those two love birds were currently debating together about. I didn't want to know about the new guy, what was so great about him that the whole school seemed to be so riled up about him? Honestly, it's like he's into sorcery and cast a spell across the whole school to get out rumours spreading about him being an 'angel' or something.

"You haven't seen the new kid yet, have you?" I looked at Oki, seeing him near smiling, amused by my annoyance.

"No, not yet, so right now I don't get the deal about how he gets so much attention. How is it some people are so easily excitable?"

Oki laughed slightly, "If you saw the new guy, you'd see."

I sighed, "But seriously, he can't be _that _great." I insisted.

"Well, I don't think he's that great, looks cute of course, I can't deny that but he's just a weird kid if you ask me, it's like he's hiding something that he doesn't want anybody to know about." I raised my eyebrow at this. He was being secretive? Was told he was shy, maybe he doesn't want all this attention, he just got unlucky and probably looked good enough to eat by most of the whore girls we had in this sorry excuse of a school, and is having trouble keeping out of everybody sights, which probably torments him terribly.

Wait, I was already feeling sorry for him? It seems like it, I could be kind, I knew that but I barely knew this boy, I didn't even know what he looks like, I know almost nothing about him, how can he already seem to be gaining my sympathy when I haven't even met him yet? I sighed inwardly; I had much to think about. First, I needed to see this new boy, perhaps then I would be able to find out what all this excitement is about.

After eating what dinner I wanted, I got up and took my tray to be cleaned before making my way by myself to my next class. I wasn't lucky, however, for I only managed to get around 100 steps away from the canteen, before a brush of smoke blew past me and made me want to gag. How disgusting and very unsanitary! I turned to see where the brush of smoke came from and I shouldn't have been surprised to see Nine and Crimson there, in a seemingly sexually and intimate way of standing next to each other. I grimaced.

"Why, hello there, miss snow woman." Nine grinned at me, before sucking in more of that nicotine crap into her system. _Yes that's it, keep at it and choke to death, do us all a favour. _

"What do you want, Nine?" I asked her, trying to seem polite, but my patience was running thin. Crimson moved from Nine, taking a sip of his own fag before blowing the smoke right in my face, making me cough and my eyes water badly.

"You should be more polite," he told me as I wanted so badly to glare at his seemingly heavy built chest, showing it's shape out of that thin shirt he was wearing and those trousers with chains on them were not just for show, but to be used as well when teachers weren't looking. "Nine here has been looking forward to seeing the new kid, I don't suppose you've seen him?"

I shook my head, I never did lie, and if I ever did I would've been terrible at it. "No, sadly, I've heard all the rumours about him, but I haven't got a single class with him yet."

Crimson searched my face a moment before nodding, satisfied. "If you see him, tell him I'll be looking for him." _Sure, I'll tell him to avoid you at all costs. _I nodded simply before turning to move away, feeling lucky that neither Crimson nor Nine wanted to press matters further. Before I got out of earshot, however, I did hear the loud bang of a locker being tackled on... or more like a certain Nine being pushed at it and most certainly currently being molested upon it. I shivered, that was not something I wanted to think about right now. I lost count on how many times Crimson and Nine got in trouble for that, probably lost count how many times they also got suspended from school because of it. Way too often, but their parents are wealthy, from what I heard, so they could just buy their way out of trouble, how very typically whoreish it was, of course.

Second and last lesson of music, it was pretty empty as usual. I went to my seat, getting out my notebook to doodle on to pass the time, whilst letting my thoughts run wild, as it does every other time I have nothing better to do. What to do tonight when I get home? Help Izanagi with farming for the winter, which of course is one thing, but when it gets too cold outside for me, what then? Homework, most likely. Practice my piano playing skills, television, computers, the new 'it' around here now. I admit, it can be quite fun to use, if only the internet wasn't as slow as a turtle on land, perhaps even slower. I suppose it can't be helped, thinking about how many people actually use it, quite a lot.

The classroom started getting noisy and I looked around to find the teacher was just arriving, with, not surprisingly, an orange. Mrs Orange's fetish was never going to get old.

"Alright class, settle down!" We complied nicely, however it took longer then normal since we were all worked up after having eaten and had lunch break, it usually does get a lot more excitable after lunch, more to the fact we had sugar put into our system.

"Now, I know we've all heard a new student is joining our school today and we all seem very excited he joined us." _You have no idea. _"But don't get too excited when I say he'll be joining our music classes from now on." Say what? The new boy was going to be taking music? Well, that certainly was a surprise to me. "Ok, so if you could please come in, Ushiwaka." Everyone turned to look at the door, waiting for him to come in.

When he did, I swear I almost gasped aloud in surprise and glee.

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Yes, cliffhanger, on the very first chapter of this fanfic... aren't I cruel? Of course -evil laugh-  
I thought you guys would prefer it, may as well give it high school drama, fwee.

So, next chapter will be written in Waka's POV so we shall know a little bit more about him, this will be very interesting, won't it? -glee-

Support the AmmyxWaka gang! Yes! I'll try to update as soon as I can, in the mean time, reviews are much appreciated! Thank you!  
~Blackie


	2. First Day

Hello again, sorry for the late updates but I'm not able to update so quickly anymore. School is hitting back for me and I'm even working on my own novel right now (surprising I know xD) so I've got other things on my mind, but I felt bad leaving it, and I had this idea in my head so I'm letting it out now whilst it's still in my head xD

Hope you don't mind I made Rao a total bitch in this, she was dead before I figured out her REAL personality, so I decided I'd use the evil Rao's, we need more baddies anyway ;3 lmfao!

Oh yes, thank you reviewers! I was shocked, 3 reviewers may not seem much but for an Okami fic that is rated M (most people don't search for them) I am pleasantly surprised! I'm glad you are enjoying this, I am myself in some ways, it's total crack xD

With nothing really much to say on this note, enjoy this chapter, in Waka's POV! =D  
Disclaimer~ I've just changed Okami a bit... a lot in fact xD But give most credit to Clover Studios for their idea!  


* * *

First day

**Waka's POV**

I had always been an early bird, waking up about 10 minutes before the alarm ever does. I'm not sure why, most guys my age usually don't bother until around the last minute, I suppose it wasn't such a surprise, I was already a freak enough, just adding early bird to the list.

My alarm goes off, 10 minutes later, no surprise there, and I hear the scream of my little sister, excited as a puppy going out for a walk.

"Hey, brother Waka, it's the first day of school!" That's the warning I get before my sister rushes into my room and leaps up onto me, on my bed. She was 12 years old and still gets very excited, especially with school. Wish I could be that optimistic about it.

"Yeah, great…" I sigh; I never looked forward to school. The big guys there would waste no trouble or time at all to get my hat off my head and laugh at what lays underneath. I keep meaning to get a haircut, really cut this all off, but I can never bring myself to do it. My father, now deceased, had his hair like this, so I find it hard to part with something familiar to my father, I really do worship him. Damn war, waste of lives and time and money.

"You're not gonna let those big mean losers at you, are ya?" Kaguya asked, near teasing me. "You're stronger and smarter then them, you can take them!" I sure hoped I had her optimism so badly right now.

"I have a feeling we're only going to be moved again." I roll my eyes. "I'm getting up, you go get yourself ready and I'll meet you for breakfast with mom soon." Kaguya nodded enthusiastically before jumping off and running to her room to get changed.

Getting up, I run my hand through my long blonde hair, before another sigh comes out. _You're a coward, you know that? Can't even cut your own hair to blend with the crowd, coward. _Maybe I just didn't want to blend in, being different wasn't so bad, it's just the abuse you get for being different that is the bad part. Would I really feel any better if I did cut my hair?

I got myself up from the bed and headed to the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror. Black rings under eyes? Check. Basic blond hair and blue eyed agenda? Check. Rest are check, too. I picked up the shaver, just reaching that time where you have to look after your face, and get to work, after the cream.

After having finished, I looked at myself in the mirror. I should just cut my hair already, stop letting pride get in the way and making my life worse then it already is. Would I look worse with a cut hair? Would it not feel the same? What about-

"Ow, shit." I grunted as I realised I had still been holding the shaver in my thoughts, unconsciously cutting my thumb slightly, just enough to bleed. I put my thumb in my mouth, hoping to stop it bleeding badly and freely, it hurt quite badly. Taking it out, it didn't seem too bad, but best to have a plaster on it just in case, to prevent infection. With it covered enough, I broke my thoughts of my hair and got dressed in my uniform, it wasn't that much different then the one in my last area, Fukushima. Now that place brought unwanted memories.

.....

_A normal day in Fukushima, Japan, Asia, Planet Earth, Milky Way. A somewhat cloudy day, but not enough for it to start to rain, not exactly pleasant looking either. I was just arriving in school, thank god it was a Friday, I really couldn't take Orochi's crap today. The weekend is about to arrive, weekend was always a great break for me from things I may have to put up with._

_Finding my little hiding place in the trees not far from the school, I hid in the shadows, nobody really bothered me here, it was like my safe haven. I looked around, just to make sure I was alone, before bringing out my stress reliefs. If I had to be specific to you about what my stress reliefs were…that would be cannabis, it was all I could find that wouldn't harm me so badly or seem disgusting. I considered cigarettes; I tried them and despised them, badly. It was like sucking up ash, utterly crap._

_Lighting it, I left myself in a more or less blissful place, nobody knew about this. Some students probably guessed, the way my eyes probably went bloodshot for about 20 minutes after the smoking session, but that was normal. Sometimes I had found myself weeping; my mind probably unconscious to such event, but people had asked if I had been crying when I went into the building after some random sessions, I denied it, however. Told them I was fine, everything was normal and there was nothing to worry about, how wrong I was._

"_Hey, never thought you as a fag." I heard from just in front of me, still distant but getting closer. _Shit. _Orochi, along with his other goons, I never thought to remember their names, of course. Orochi stood nearby towering above me, I was currently sitting cross legged on the floor, I always did whilst smoking, whether it be out here in the trees or hidden inside the nearby abandoned green house._

_I simply sighed and looked away, about to take another blow when I find it slapped out of my hand, Orochi clearly meant business today. _

"_What do you want, Orochi?" I asked, trying to keep as calm as I possibly could, inside I was downright panicking, not even sure as to what I had done wrong, but I kept a cool, calm façade outside._

"_You've been talking to Aimi, I heard." Orochi near growled out. Oh, so that's what this is all about. Aimi was still somewhat new to the school, so she didn't exactly know the 'borderlines' to fit with the right people in the school. I tried to keep my distance, knowing my place. Aimi was quite an attractive young lady, and I knew, just knew deep down, if I got close to her, Orochi was sure to pick a fight._

_She didn't follow me when I hid away when she was around, she didn't think it out of the ordinary and went on as normal, ignoring me whilst I ignored her in turn. However, one day, she broke the ice. She chipped at it one little bit at a time. She demanded from me to know what my problem was, why I avoid her like she was some kind of disease and so forth. I grew irritated at her; she didn't know how hard this was, how hard everything was, eventually she found out._

"_Crap, Waka you're telling me you smoke this stuff!?" She had blurted out when she caught me in the abandoned green house; I never knew she stuck around here to pass the time. I was hoping to stay here unnoticed, but sadly luck wasn't on my side that day._

"_It's all I can do, to keep calm, keep healthy; I don't mix with the other students, that's why I avoided you." I had told her about Orochi, what he does and did. Her eyes had shown sympathy hearing my story, and she did one thing that really shocked me. She hugged me, trying to comfort me; I had never been hugged by a person around my age, so it was quite different. I hugged her back slightly, patting her back before breaking contact. I assured her I would be fine and head back to the building when lesson starts again, she agreed and that was the last time I saw her. Orochi must've had somebody tell him about it, how else would've he'd figured it out?_

"_So, what if I have?" I shrugged, trying to seem unaffected, I knew better._

"_You know your boundaries; nobody wants to talk to Goldilocks' twin brother." Orochi and his band laughed, though Orochi's was strained with what seemed like irritation. I grimaced; I always hated it when somebody disregarded me as something like that. _

"_She didn't seem to mind, I actually wanted her off my back for a while, but she confronted me. After talking, she isn't so bad." I shrugged again, seeming emotionless, I was probably less reactive then a robot right now. _

"_Doubt she knows the transvestite inside you." Orochi sneered, whilst I flinched. It wasn't really true, I didn't find pleasure of wearing female's clothing, I have done it once being forced to and I can tell you I didn't find it appealing. But with my hair, it just didn't help my defence, so I don't bother trying to contradict that statement anymore._

"_She knows about this, she accepted that, not everybody is like you, Orochi." I glared at him slightly, hoping he'd go up in a puff of smoke, I doubt that coming anytime soon. Orochi's face has now turned from cocky, to irritated, to downright _mad. _I think I lost my cool look after seeing that angered expression, because the next thing I know I felt an aching pain to my right side and I was lying on the ground on my left side. Orochi had just kicked me! He had finally snapped, oh fuck this wasn't good. That's what you get for getting cocky, Waka, it's your own bloody fault. _

"_Maybe you need to be reminded of your boundaries." I could do nothing but close my eyes; this is what happens when you really cross the boundaries. I had it coming, I acted out of order. I kept my eyes shut, trying desperately to blank out the pain to which didn't get effected in the least from my shut eyes._

…..

Aimi had found me there 30 minutes later when I didn't turn up for her class, she had gotten worried and for good reason. I was sent to hospital for 3 broken ribs, a broken ear from where the helmet of my hat had been pushed into my skull, a bad leg, but not quite broken and a fractured elbow. To say that I got lucky was an understatement, I owed it to Aimi. I never got the chance, the moment I was able to leave hospital, my mother was too scared to leave me stay at that school and I came with the responsibility to telling Aimi the news. She took it hard, but she understood, she could no longer contact me unless she wanted to get into trouble, that would be the last time I saw her, it certainly was.

Breaking my thoughts of my old memories, I headed downstairs where Kaguya waited for me.

"There you are, what took you so long, brother?" Kaguya put on a smile, though she was quite worried. I couldn't blame her, the last school I went to made me end up in hospital, of course she was going to be scared for me for this school after I had just recovered that, it was only 3 months ago the incident happened.

"I was just thinking, you know... about hospital." I sighed whilst Kaguya came over to hug me, I couldn't help but hug her tiny frame back.

"Don't worry, big brother, I hope it never happens again." She snuggled to my chest, just reaching my stomach.

I chuckled before stroking her hair. "Me too, sis... me too." I patted her back before turning to pick up some bread to put in the toaster. "What do you want on your toast, Kaguya?"

"Chocolate spread!" She squealed back. I had to laugh, she could be a nightmare at party times, but she was my sister nonetheless. Kaguya just really makes me wonder where my spark of excitement went; I can't remember the last time I had really gotten excited about anything. Perhaps for my birthdays, but ever since my father died, that old spark died with him. Now I just seem to be enduring life and trying to impress others, since that was the only thing I could really do whilst living, why not?

I jump slightly when the toaster clicks loudly and the toast springs upwards. Kaguya laughed seeing that I had been caught by surprise. I turned to glare at her playfully.

"I suppose you asked the toast really nicely to creep up and jump at me, right?" I smirked slightly, whilst Kaguya shook her head quickly whilst holding back a huge smile. I chuckled before taking the two slices of toast, giving one chocolate spread for Kaguya and one with simple butter on for myself. I headed to Kaguya, giving her the toast she had asked for before I took a bite out of mine, picking my cloak up and my school bag ready for school.

"Hey brother, can we go to the park after school together?" Kaguya asked me suddenly, whilst she copied my moves, a toast in her mouth whilst putting her coat on and about to pick her bag up as well. I certainly noticed the resemblance.

"Sure, but we'll head home first to drop our bags off, alright?" I smiled at her whilst she nodded eagerly. Our mother wasn't due back until 5 to do dinner, sometimes she had to stay behind longer, which left me to do the cooking, I wasn't as good as my mother, but it was good enough. I grabbed my mobile, putting it in my pocket, before nodding at my sister that it's time to leave.

Heading out the house, I locked the door with the key, putting that in my pocket as well. I sighed before messing with my hat/wig to get it on right before turning to smile at Kaguya. She smiled back before turning to head the way to the school, the way was obvious, so there was no real chance of getting lost.

There didn't seem to be many cars parked into the lot, most people must walk these days then, which was a good thing I suppose. The playground, however, was a different story. It was buzzing with activity, some guys, punks I would describe them, were smoking in the corners away from CCTV view with their girls, making out. The smaller years played football, card games I saw too, Pokemon, wasn't it? The higher years, were already in their books studying. I tensed slightly, I've always learnt to be the black sheep of the school, this time would probably be no different, but it seems to have a wide range of students, not much like sheep.

Kaguya sensed my tense pose and pulled on my arm. "Big brother, relax and try to fit in this time, don't panic." She smiled at me, I gave her half a smile in return, at least I tried. I was too stressed though, I was panicking inside, times like this really call for reinforcements.

"Kaguya, why don't you look around? I need to do something." I pleaded with her, I hated lying to her, or rather withholding information she might actually want to know, but she would freak and tell Mom if I did. I certainly didn't want a lecture from her about my health; I had heard it enough about it in schools concerning mental health.

Kaguya nodded, knowing I needed a time to get rid of stress, before she turned and skipped away, finding somebody to talk to already. How the hell did she do that? If only life was that easy. I shook my head before turning to walk away, heading for a seemingly abandoned part of the school. I didn't want anybody around me right now, with nobody in sight; I don't think I could handle it without panicking and making a right nuisance of myself.

Finding a pretty abandoned space, I leaned against the wall and lighted a roll of my medicine, my drug. Lost in bliss in my essence, it gave me time to relax and plan things through. I'll need to ask somebody who looks sensible politely if they could show me and my sister around the school. That was a good enough tactic; I'm just hoping that the person wouldn't really mind.

10 minutes later, I felt much better and decided to go find Kaguya. Good thing too, for I saw her talking to a young girl, it brought a slight smile to my face to see my sister looking so happy.

"Hey, Kaguya, c'mon, let's find somebody to give us a tour." I asked her, calling to her. She turned, hearing my voice, smiled and nodded, heading my way. I smiled back about to turn to head to the school before I stopped when something caught my eye, a certain someone.

There, not far in the distance, talking to a guy wearing a weird mask, was a girl my age. _Oh boy, _how could I describe her? She had long white hair that literally almost sparkled in the sunlight, her pale skin glistened showing just how really pure she truly was, her clothes fit her perfectly curves of her legs just dressed in that top and skirt. _Shit, why did she have to wear a skirt? _Her breasts too, not too large but definitely not lacking either, just my picture of perfection. And my home, her eyes, pink irises showing her true innocence and beauty. An albino? That was unusual, but it suited her, I just hoped she was as innocent as she looked. _Unlikely._ Damn self conscience.

She was still talking to that guy in the mask. _Crap, please let that be her brother, or at least a friend. _Sure, I would have little chance dating, but if I ever pick up the courage, I would like to get to know her, friendly first. She looked so shy, keeping low down like she wished she could disappear, she felt uneasy it seemed. Should I go help her? It doesn't seem like she's in trouble though.

"Waka! Stop daydreaming!" Kaguya's shout brought me from my thoughts and I look down at her, shaking my head and blinking hard. Did I imagine that? Did my sister catch me staring, or _her_ for that matter? "Are you ok?" Before I could answer, the bell rang. Phew, saved by the bell, so glad I know to expect that from this school.

I looked up to see the girl, but she had gone. The guy wearing the mask was left standing there seeming upset; did she run off from him? I wonder what brought that on? I look back at Kaguya to see her looking at me with a slight grin on her face. _Bugger, she saw my staring. _Smile and wave.

I smiled at her, pretending I didn't know the meaning of her grin, she just continued to grin back. Little sisters can be so irritating sometimes.

"Let's just get to class and find a person to give us a tour." I told her, I decided maybe I could ask the guy with the mask, really test if he was a nice guy and didn't harm that girl in any way. I put an arm around my sister's shoulders before walking up to the man in the mask. "Excuse me, we're new here, could you possibly give me and my sister a tour of the school?" I asked in my polite voice. The man turned to face me, his mask was definitely something I haven't seen before, what was its purpose? A tribe? Unlikely, but it wasn't intimidating, so I wouldn't mind.

"You're the new guy, Ushiwaka isn't it?" The guy smiled, he didn't seem so bad so far, but I have hardly met him yet, better keep my eye on him.

"It's Waka, actually." I corrected him, he nodded, keeping it noted.

"Oh, you have a little sister, hey there. I'm Oki, doing my final year here in Celestial Academy."

Kaguya smiled back. "Nice to meet you, I'm Kaguya, Waka's sister, like you guessed." She grinned, oh _that _grin, she was going to be nosey, lord help me. "You have a very nice mask, is it your religion or something?"

Oki seemed to flinch slightly, as if in pain, wonder what that was about. But then he smiled "Yeah, something like that." He turned around. "Well, this way." He walked on. I nodded at Kaguya telling her that it was ok and followed him.

He showed us as much of the school as he could, he had to make a stop at his Geography class to inform the teacher he would be late, for he was giving us a tour. The teacher wished him luck, gave us a little greeting and told Oki he could come in later if he wanted to catch up.

The school wasn't as big as I was expecting, I had thought it would be big enough to get lost in, but that wasn't the case. It was a nice place, quite urban and mostly seemed clean, this school was definitely better then my last, let's just hope the students are.

The bell rang, signalling that second lesson had now started for the day. Oki looked at us and smiled.

"Before I forget to mention, we have 8 lessons in the day, you get some free time in some blocks, but use them wisely, most people don't." He chuckled. I smiled, I liked this guy from the tour he gave us, I'm still unsure why that girl ran from him earlier.

Before Oki could say goodbye, another girl came up to us, dressed quite neatly, she looked like she wasn't having any money issues but she wasn't showing off about it, I just knew how to tell those things. She had long brown hair, she didn't look as innocent as the albino, but she wasn't bad either, no, definitely not bad. She smiled at me and my sister before looking at Oki.

"Hey, Oki, giving the newbies a warm welcome?" She asked him, with a slight giggle.

Oki chuckled slightly. "That's it, Waka, Kaguya, meet Himiko, she's in the same year as me but she's the governor of the year." I looked at Himiko and held out my hand, she smiled and took it politely.

"Welcome to Celestial Academy! I'm Himiko and my job as governor is to make sure you are comfortable here in our school and I make sure things stay in check, discussing with teachers about anything of any issue I can spot and if you have any questions you can just come to me." She kept that smile on her face. "Wow, you're quite good looking for a newbie." I couldn't help but blush slightly, although you probably couldn't see it.

"Thanks," Deciding to change the subject quickly, I added, "this is my sister, Kaguya, she's starting high school for the first time." Kaguya stood up proud and held out her hand, imitating me almost perfectly. Himiko took it.

"I can definitely see the resemblance." She giggled, I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I best be off, I've got English. Oh yes, Oki before I forget, Amaterasu wants help with the 'Issun Problem', just keep an eye out, ok?"

Oki nodded. "Got it, but she seemed a bit upset this morning... I suppose asking her again wasn't a good idea." Oki sighed, wait this morning?

"Do you mean that albino girl?" I asked, before quickly apologising. "Sorry, I don't mean to pry but I just wondered if that's the reason she left so quickly.

Oki looked at me and nodded slowly. "Been trying to get her to accept my date, but she keeps refusing." Ouch, hard luck boy. That lowers my chances, oh heck, nobody would say yes to me either way, why bother? "Anyway, I'll give you a shout, Hoshi if I spot Issun anywhere, I'll try my best to be an arse to him." Oki smirked before patting Himiko's shoulder, then my own before leaving.

Himiko looked down at Kaguya. "Do you need help getting to class?" Kaguya nodded slightly and showed Himiko her timetable we had received during the tour. "Oh your class is right next to mine! Follow me, I'll take you there!" She looked up at me. "You don't mind, do you?"

I smiled, trying to be charming. "No, not at all, I'll see you at dinner, Kaguya, be a good girl and behave." I chuckled before kissing her forehead.

Kaguya giggled. "Ew, not in school, brother."

I smirked. "Better hope I don't do it again." I looked back at Himiko, she had a face that just cried out 'awwww'. Girls. "Thank you, again, Himiko." I smiled, with a nod, before turning to head to class.

Arriving to Art, I was surprisingly not late. I knocked on the door and headed inside. Inside the place looked a mess, but at the same time it was quite surprising, people's work were hanging up, all kinds of works, collages, models etc. I looked at the teacher and smiled, walking over there.

"Hi, I'm Waka, the new student." I told her in my charming voice. The teacher was quite beautiful, considering a teacher, but she wasn't exactly that attractive to me. I still had Albino in my head, why can't she go invade somebody else's mind, mine is fucked enough as it is.

The teacher's face shone in recognition. "Oh, Mr Yoshitsune, of course! Do come in and take a seat where you like." I nodded and took a look. A few girls put their hands up for me to sit next to them, or started pushing their chests forward to me, breasts and all showing. Uch, this again. It'll be like this at the start, until they find out, then they will all piss off like every other time. I hung my head low, clutching my art book to my chest before taking a seat in the back by myself; I really didn't feel like sitting next to anybody.

Once I sat down, the girl in front of me turned around to face me whilst the teacher started talking.

"Hi there!" She cheered out, trying to seem cute. Cute? _Hardly, I've seen Grizzlies cuter, love. _She also tried flirting, wait were those breasts? Looking, or rather not trying to, but they were too big to miss, they were, Jesus. "I'm Rao, wanna hang out after class?" She batted her eyelashes; do I honestly look like a guy who takes one night stands? I gag internally at the thought; I was pure, virgin, never put a condom on in my life, I haven't even jacked off yet and I'm 17, how sad. Pure as salt, you never know what really is in snow.

"No thanks, I've got studying to do." I dismissed her simply, with boredom coming out of my voice, hoping she'd leave me alone. She did, but not without huffing dramatically and turning her head so quickly her hair punched me in the face. It didn't hurt, I just ignored it, I even had a slight smile on my face at that, what a whore.

The rest of art was pretty uneventful, until a certain whore threw a piece of paper on me. I looked up to glare at her, only to see she was smiling, before she turned away. So, a message on that piece of paper? Seemed likely enough. I looked down at it before going to read it.

_Meet me just outside of Art, you won't regret it._

She really didn't give up, did she? I could just walk off quickly, but Rao is right in front of me, there was little chance I could escape, besides it would be rude of me to ignore her, no matter how irritating she is.

The bell rang and I got up, putting my stuff away in my bag before I felt a tap on my shoulder. I didn't need to look up to know who it was, it was obviously Whore.

"I'll be waiting." She said with a wink. _Ach. _She turned and left through the door, but I knew she was waiting there just for her prey, lord help me. With a sigh, I picked my bag up and left for the door. No sooner had I left the door before I was dragged by my collar and pushed against a wall. _Holy shit, this isn't good. _Talk about being so forward.

"Um, excuse me?" I tried sounding polite, but it was hard not to sound the least bit rude at the same time, I mean she did drag me by the collar, who the heck does that?

"Shhh." She hushed me, _huh, nobody hushes Waka here! _"Just relax, enjoy the moment." _I certainly will not! _Before I could object, I felt her hand brushing my groin. With a leap and a yelp I quickly stepped away to the side, or rather leaped and landing nicely. _That was really inappropriate; I really have to get this bitch off my back somehow without rumours spreading. _

"Look, Rao, I know you may be used to guys being all over you," _That didn't sound so charming. _Well, I wasn't in the mood for using my charms. "But I'm not that kind of guy, I don't do that stuff."

Rao looked surprised. "But you're gorgeous."

I sighed, some girls were impossible. "Look, I may not seem it but… I'm… a virgin, and I don't plan to change that anytime soon." Now that expression on her face, priceless.

"Wow, never had a virgin before, could be fun." She purred, trailing a finger up and down my chest. With a slight growl I slapped her hand away, enough of this bullshit.

"You're unbelievable, just leave me alone." All politeness had gone now; I had had it with that whore. I turned away quickly and walked off fast, not looking back, I couldn't bear it.

Getting to dinner, eventually, I sat at a table by myself. Kaguya had already sat down with some new friends of hers she had met, I didn't want to impose, so chose to stay away and let her have her fun. I hadn't gotten much to eat, a cheese sandwich with orange juice and an apple, I was trying to keep healthy to make up for all those cannabis smokes.

Not long after, two guys came over the sit at my table; they were both quite close for comfort. _Is there a group of people I haven't met yet at this school? No wonder it's called Celestial Academy. _The blue eyed one was shorter then the other brown eyed one, with dark hair loose but not going below eye level. The other had brown hair, lighter and shorter, not quite as loose as the other's hair. Just the way they were walking this way should've made me realise the obvious, only it didn't until they introduced themselves.

"Hey, can we sit besides you, new guy?" The blue eyed one asked kindly, at least he was polite. I nodded my head silently and they sat on my opposite side, next to each other. "Oh yes, by the way, the name's Abe." He smiled before nodding at the brown eyed guy. "That's Kamo. People call us the Dynamic Duo." _Gee, I wonder why. _

"Pleasure to meet you, new kid. You got a name?" Kamo asked. _Well, of course._

I coughed slightly, putting a slight smile on my face. "Waka, it's a pleasure to meet you." Curiosity got the better of me, I asked as politely as I could, "Um... I hope you don't mind in me being so blunt but... are you two... you know-"

"Yes, we are." Abe answered proudly. "I know what you were going to say, and yes, we're together." _That explained the gay walk. _So there were punks, homosexuals, whores, innocent, what was left? Abe's eyes suddenly went wide as he looked behind me. "Oh boy, there are the Three Musketeers." He mumbled, only enough for me and Kamo to hear him. I turned around, _oh for fuck sakes. _I spotted Whore Rao, with a couple of friends. A girl and a boy, my age.

The girl had blond hair, strawberry blond and definitely looked as much of a whore as Rao did, only her tits weren't so huge, she was quite the shape too, most guys probably worship to her, but I wasn't in that category.

The guy next to her was definitely a punk, he even had chains on his trousers, seriously how does he get away with wearing those during school? He looked to be a heavy smoker; his skin was pale enough to suggest that, probably a man whore by the looks of things, just right for the girl nearby him. They looked to be a couple, wouldn't surprise me in the least really.

Rao was talking to the girl and turned to suddenly point a finger at me. _What the hell? _A tap on my shoulder caused me to turn back, it was Abe.

"Dude, what the hell did you do to her!?" His eyes were wide.

I was confused. "Who? Rao?" Abe nodded. "I told her to go away and pushed her away when she tried molestering me against a freaking wall." Abe and Kamo both looked at each other, in both awe and panic.

Kamo turned away, looking above me. "Shit, Nine is on her way here with Crimson, Rao must've been a teller tailing bitch. Let's get outta here and hide." Both Abe and Kamo stood up quickly, grabbing my hand to pull me up. I didn't object, one look behind me and I knew Nine and Crimson meant business. "Let's go." We ran out the cafeteria (I know it as canteen) and through the corridors at quick speed, it was a good thing nobody bothered us, but they did look at us curiously, but turned away once they realised Nine and Crimson were nearby, becoming oblivious.

Running on, Abe opened a nearby door, a fire exit, going through after Kamo had dragged me inside after my objections. He told me, "If you want to get through today without a hospital trip, move!" I didn't have it in me to argue. On and on we ran, until we finally reached the school grounds where there was a big enough crowd to hide around. Nine and Crimson just appeared down the fire escape, both looked around frantically, cursing when they couldn't find us. Turning on her heels, Nine took Crimson's arm and dragged him back inside the building.

All three of us let out our breath we had been holding, talk about just getting out alive. Then, in unison, we all burst out laughing, it is said in near death experiences you often laugh it off when you survive it, it feels good to be alive sometimes. Once we finished laughing, the bell rang out loudly, announcing the end of dinner.

"Well, that was fun, we should do that again tomorrow." Kamo chuckled. "Well, best be going, we'll see you around, Waka."

Abe smiled. "Yeah, come hang out with us again tomorrow at dinner, you're a good guy."

I smiled back. "Sure thing, thanks you guys, that was really fun." I chuckle slightly before smiling again at my two friends; I really could use their help to survive this place. "I'll speak to you tomorrow." I turned and walked back into the building, for once not needing to take a smoke. I can't remember how long it has been since I have done that.

I had music next, this would be a subject that I would definitely enjoy, the flute had always been my favourite musical object. I just hoped to hell that neither Rao, Nine nor Crimson were going to be in that class, but it seemed highly unlikely, considering the class.

Arriving at the class, I would already hear the teacher speaking; I was a bit late, crap. I was about to knock on the door but I stopped, staying to listen and I was sure the teacher knew I was on the other side of the door.

"Ok, so if you could please come in Ushiwaka." I hated my full name being used, but I'll correct it for her later. I opened the door and stood in the class. It was a pretty fancy music class, with keyboards and music stands, with a few computers in the back. The teacher seemed nice and innocent too, blond but not seeming like a whore or anything, just a normal teacher.

After talking to her and correcting her for my name error, she told me to sit down. Turning away, I saw there was only one seat left. Right next to... _holy hell! _Pale as snow skin, white long hair, glistening pink irises... it's Amaterasu, the albino I had caught before, and she is in my music class, I have to sit next to her, whilst I had butterflies flying around in my stomach.

_This could get a little messy... and complicated.

* * *

_Ok, ok, perhaps another cliffy... they haven't talked yet, but bear in mind their will next chapter! I promise you! What I can't promise is when I'm afraid. RL comes first.

Please review, I would love to hear your opinions on this! =3  
~Blackie


	3. Fandom Reader Appreciation Day

Sorry for this not being an update people! But I felt it is right, as I have seen some other authors do so, to put up an Author's note as thanks to all my readers.

It's Fandom Reader Appreciation Day! So here I say thanks to all my readers who have reviewed, favourite, alerted, heck my account even! xD I love you all! Truly you make me feel I've made this hobby become even more worthwhile, although I really do just write as a hobby and feel I should post them online so people can read and enjoy them.

About the update itself, the next chapter, yes I have started it, I know where I'm going with it! It's just finding the time to do so. Yes, we will have AmmyxWaka moments next chapter, I promise but it shall be purely friendly for now, I would be worried if Ammy just jumped up onto Waka's lap to give him a hand job or something, reality doesn't work like that (at least not where they live xD)

I'm not sure how long this story is actually going to be... but I've considered maybe teenage pregnancy to the equation too, as well as the drugs you've seen already, sex (oh yes definitely sex!) alcohol but it would be known as sake of course and I think that's about it... maybe abuse, definitely bullying but abuse... I'm not sure yet, perhaps –evil grin-

Many thanks my dear readers and happy Fandom Reader Appreciation Day!

~Blackie


	4. Walk in the Park

No, I'm not dead, I just had a writing problem with this chapter, but I've FINALLY gotten over it =D  
This is it, chapter 3, I'm keeping the fandom reader thingie on there because I think you deserve to have it kept that as thanks for reading and reviewing and crap =3 lmao

I apologise forwardly for any mistakes that fanfiction or myself might've put down on this chapter, for it is 00:20am now and I have school tomorrow xD I didn't have chance to be able to look things over, I will check things over later when I have more time, don't worry.

Anywho, enjoy this chapter!

Slight warning, slight lemons here, and sex phone talk xD you've been warned!

* * *

Walk in the Park

**Ammy's POV**

Oh my Lord, he was really sitting next to me, he just had to be gorgeous too, didn't he? I swear, somebody up there hates me; I've no idea now how I'm going to be able to concentrate with this perfection sitting right next to me.

However, it would be rude of me to just ignore him during the class; it would be the decent thing to introduce myself. I decided upon that, I turned in my seat to look at him.

He was getting his stuff out of his bag, he wore a weird looking hat with an eagle or falcon head on the top, displaying power, a member of his family must've been in a war if he's wearing something like that. He had blue eyes, pure blue like the sky, clean and warm, but there was no sparkle there, they might've looked beautiful but it definitely lacked the sparkle it desperately needed. His nose was just begging to be poked, so bad. His jaw line, _oh heck his jaw line, _I think I could just nuzzle it all day. Maybe nip it a bit...

I shook my head, I shouldn't have thoughts like this, I'm a perfect girl, untainted, there is no way I am changing that now, but I should still be nice. I looked back at him, whilst he was still trying to get out his file; I spotted the slight hair of blond under his hat. Blond? He was blond? Blond with blue eyes... _nice. _

He sat up, having gotten his sketchpad and placed it with his pencil case on the table. His pencil case was rather simple, just a clear one holding the simple art case set. He kept things simple, he just did what he was supposed to, I don't think he enjoyed it one bit. _This guy sure is having problems in his social life. _It seemed it; he didn't really seem to look at people, as if afraid of what would happen if he would. I began to wonder the real reason he moved, not because his mother got a new job, which just sounded like a cover up now. Having wasted enough time just looking at him, I decided to speak up.

"Hi there." I said politely enough, the new kid seemed to flinch slightly before turning his head to look at me. I underestimated his eyes, they weren't just not shining like normal people's, they were dull, a dark, exhausted blue, slightly blood shot as well although it was hard to tell. This guy must be going through hell. "I'm Amaterasu, you're Ushiwaka?" I already knew that, but I thought it would be polite to at least ask.

The boy smiled slightly, although it seemed slightly forced, before he nodded. "Pleasure to meet you Amaterasu, but please, call me Waka, it's a little easier." Wow, I was definitely not prepared for the sound of his voice, although it sounded slightly rough, mostly it sounded soft, like velvet.

I smiled back at him. "You can call me Ammy, everybody does." I held out my hand for him to shake, he wasted no time in doing so.

"Pleasure, indeed." Waka then let go of my hand. He turned to face the front, not seeming to have anything else to talk about. I couldn't help but keep talking to him.

"So, what brings you here to Kitakata?"

Waka looked at me, slightly surprised I had asked him, before he composed his relaxed self and smiled a handsome grin. _Damn that man. _"My mother found a new job, not too far away at the primary school, she teaches the younger years." He had this pride about his mother, he really liked her.

"You really love your mother, don't you?" Curiosity beat me.

Waka kept that drop dead smile. "Of course, she's my saviour, so self sacrificing, I don't know what I'd do without her." He stopped, thinking for a moment. "What about you?"

Now that's the difficult part. "Oh, my parents both passed away from the flu outbreak." I looked down, I really missed them sometimes.

Waka looked away as if ashamed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know, I shouldn't have asked." He sighed; he really beat himself up about it.

I needed to really up the mood back up again. "Don't worry about it, I do miss them sometimes but I get by." I smiled at Waka, who in turned smiled back that damn smile I swear would be the death of me.

"I know what you mean, my father, he's the one that gave me this hat in case you were wondering, he went to war against the Americans, damn bastards killed him." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, excuse my language, but that's just how I feel right now."

I shook my head. "This is Celestial Academy; we hear it all the time." I laughed, Waka laughed along with me, his eyes now seem to sparkle slightly, and _god _what a sparkle!

"I suppose you're right, I should've figured that out." He shook his head, grinning and trying to hold back a laugh.

"Ok class, get out your files, I'll be giving you your task that I would like you to try for the first week and see what you can come up with, just playing the instrument that you own or sing, anything of any song you like. You can work in pairs, so pair up, you have until the end of the week to come up with something to present, you may be marked just to see what we can improve, think it as a warm up test." Pair up? That meant that Waka would be my partner for this music session, it was better then Issun for sure.

Speaking of the devil, Issun came right up to me; I knew what he was going to ask.

"Hey, Ammy babe!" Issun smiled, trying to seem even slightly sexy, he didn't turn me on at all. "You going to be my partner?" He winked at me, causing me to cringe back. Waka noticed my tense pose and decided to step up.

"It doesn't seem it, I'm afraid. She's already asked me and I accepted, since I'm new here she was just being polite. Better luck next time." I gaped, well that was both polite and pretty much telling him to go away at the same time.

Issun glared at Waka. "I wasn't asking you, hippy freak."

That caused me to snap, feeling Waka wince. "Issun, enough, my answer is no, I'm going to help Waka out since he really needs the help he can get, so do me a favour and go away." Issun's eyes widened before he shrugged, seeming slightly hurt, but I was too angry to care.

"You'll be coming right to me next time though, I just know it." He grinned that cocky, self righteous type grin once again before turning to walk away.

"Uch, he never gives up." I sigh before sitting back down.

"I'm sorry." I looked at Waka, seeing he had his head down in shame. "I shouldn't have just snapped at him like that, but I could tell he made you tense and nervous, I thought I could help." He sighed crossing his arms on the desk before dropping his head on his arms, hard enough for him to hiss about the pain later.

I sighed before raking my hand through his hat hair, wig thing. It felt rather soft, like wolf fur, but no wolf fur would ever be pink with purple tips at the bottom. It was nice to stroke, so I kept doing it, it seemed to calm Waka down too, because his posture relaxed.

"That feels real nice, you know?" I heard his muffled voice say. That shocked me, I instinctively pulled my hand away, but Waka grabbed it back quickly, but gently. That's when I felt a static shock, only it wasn't the same, it was like a shock waking me up, getting my full attention and making me feel pleasure, _what the? _Waka had a look of shock as well, so I knew he felt it too. "Sorry." He let go of my hand, it was now feeling cold over the loss of contact.

"Don't be, you just startled me, but I'm fine." I smiled. "I like you; I thought the new kid was just going to be some stuck up snob like most of these guys."

Waka chuckled slightly. "Well, I'm glad I didn't disappoint you." He smiled again, breaking heart smile. "I like you too. I'm hoping we can become good friends. It'd be nice to make a friend on a place as crazy as this." He smiled wider.

I couldn't help but smile back, it was contagious. "I would love to be your friend, have you met Himiko and Sakuya yet?"

Waka's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh yeah, well, I've met Himiko I haven't seen Sakuya yet, I'm afraid. I saw Oki as well, he was telling me how you turned him down this morning." His tone turned to one of amusement around hearing about Oki. Wait, he saw me this morning?

"You saw that?"

Waka nodded slightly. "I wasn't snooping, honestly, I just thought at first you were being harassed, I was going to help out but when I looked up again after talking to my sister, I realised you didn't need it." He has a sister? That I didn't know.

"You have a sister?"

Waka nodded and smiled, pride showing on his face. "I do, her name is Kaguya, she's 12 years old so she's just starting to coming to high school, I'm trying my best to help her along. Himiko got her to her next class nicely, which I'm grateful for. My sister sometimes worries too much, she just worries about me a lot, she just wants me to be happy but there are complications." He sighed before looking away slightly, clearly not wanting to talk about it. I wouldn't ever force him to talk to me about it; I would give him time before bringing it up.

"I think that's really sweet, you must be so proud of her."

Waka looked back at me and smiled, also with slight surprise. "Yes, I couldn't ask for a better sibling myself. She's my lifeline; I don't know what I'd do without her." His eyes, blue deep sea eyes, sparkled with pride for his younger sister; you could easily see how much he truly cared for his sister.

"That's real sweet, you know?" I smiled. "It's not often siblings really care for each other like you do." Waka looked away, a blush evidently appearing but said nothing.

After a few moments, he took a deep breath and looked back at me, his blush had disappeared now. "So, partner... what can you do?" _Excuse me? Work that mouth of yours? _Waka must've seen how wrong it had been worded before shaking his head and laughed. "I meant for music, what instrument or what do you do?"

"Oh." I blushed before looking down slightly. "I usually sing, but I can play the piano, although I'm not very good."

Waka chuckled. "I doubt that very much, and for earlier, it's alright... you _are _a hormonal teenager after all." He teased, smirking. I couldn't help but smack his shoulder, he winced. "Ow, what the... you work out or what, woman?" He did smile slightly, rubbing his shoulder.

"I help at the farm, only to be expected, I guess that is my workout." I shrugged, still smiling. Waka was just so easy to be around, kind, considerate... troubled.

"Farm, huh?" Waka blinked then thought for a moment. "So, when do I get to see said farm?" His smirk was back again, _curse heartbreaking smirk._

"Well, whenever you want, we usually get a lot of visitors, except Saturday." I shrugged.

"Alright, but I'll be bringing Kaguya, she would love to see the livestock, I assume you have some?" Still smirking. Damn.

"What kind of farm would we be without livestock?"

Waka laughed. "What indeed." The bell suddenly rang, we hadn't actually worked on our project at all, but at least we knew of what instrument we would play, however, that was about it. I got up, starting to pack my stuff. "Well, that lesson was interesting."

I laughed. "Oh yes, very. We weren't actually doing the work assigned, but I guess it doesn't really matter, we can make it up." A thought came to me; we would have to go to my house to play the piano, a perfect chance to be able to show him the farm as well. "Hey, are you free this week?"

Waka looked at me a moment, as if unsure how to respond. "Um, yeah I should be free tomorrow; we could make up the time we wasted in that lesson for it, if you'd like?" He looked at me, waiting for my response, seeming eager.

"Now why else would've I asked you?" I chuckled, Waka did along with me.

"Of course, but it doesn't harm to double check." He winked at me. _Holy hell, he winked at me! _I couldn't help the blush, with me being an albino; the blush shows up all too easily. Waka couldn't help the laugh that came out. "You're real cute when you blush, you know that?" That caused my blush to deepen more, resulting a victorious grin on Waka's face. Cocky, damn sexy hat guy. Yes, I actually said sexy to describe Waka, who wouldn't? Shrugging that away, I turned and headed out the door, deciding to wait for Waka to talk more about the time he should arrive.

He came out, giving me a slight smile seeing me waiting for him. "That's very polite of you, miss. I thank you." He grinned, cocky as usual but at least it wasn't Issun's kind of cocky.

I smiled. "You're very welcome, sir." I winked back at him and watched as he shifted on his feet and looked away, a slight blush appearing. I couldn't help but giggle, it was so darn cute, also quite satisfying that I had that kind of effect on him, for once a person I wouldn't mind getting seduced by. _So weird I'm admitting that. _Damn unsecure self conscience.

Down the hall, not far from where we were, a sudden shriek sounded, a female shriek. I turned to see Rao and Nine, glaring at Waka with a look of hate, maybe want too?

"Oh, crap." I turned to look at Waka, looking slightly pale in the face. "I've... got to run." I knew what that meant.

"What did you do?" I couldn't imagine what Waka would've done to get such a glare from Nine, then again Nine glared bad at everybody. "Forget that, this way, I've done this a lot." I grab Waka's hand, intent on keeping him alive and pull him through the corridors. Waka didn't question, he merely ran with me, looking behind his shoulder to see Nine heading our way, pushing students aside trying to get at us.

"Hold it right there, bitch!" I heard her screech, I didn't dare turn to take a look.

"She's fucking crazy, why didn't anybody call the mental institute on her?" Waka murmured aloud, probably not intending for me to hear it, but it made me laugh nonetheless. "Well, thank god for that _some _people have sense to stop her, headmaster's taken her away for a chat." I just bet he had a smirk on his face, since Nine was taken away, I took the chance to look. Yup, 10 points to me. He was smirking, finding joy that Nine was being taken away, I couldn't blame him, I felt the same. I kept running, heading outside, anyway. I wanted to show him something, a hiding place I'd recommend he would hide at if Rao wanted his head on a pike.

"This way, I'll show you my safe house." I told him, he nodded still following me, I had let go of his hand and they felt cold now that he had let go. Odd, I never thought your hand could lose heat that fast; I shrugged it off and continued to the 'safe house'.

The said 'safe house' was nothing more then a hole in the ground that we had dug up. By we, I mean Oki, Sakuya, Himiko and even Samickle helped out. This was where we head off if we have either Rao, Nine or Crimson at us, or occasionally if Issun would try to get at me. Most would run away screaming from here because it looked so unhygienic, but actually it was cleaner then it looked, the look was the reason we chose this place, nobody would bother us and think we'd die of the smell or something, when truly, that wasn't the case. It was right besides a tree, so it headed almost under it, like a rabbit hole you'd imagine, I stopped besides it once we arrived.

"Um... this is it." I looked at Waka nervously, who had his head cocked to the side slightly with his eyebrow raised. _He thinks I'm crazy, just bet he does._

"This... rabbit hole?" He asked, confused, I couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny?" He was now even more confused.

"Your face..." I breathed out, struggling to get my hysterics under control. Waka simply rolled his eyes with a slight smile and patiently waited until I got my giggles under control. I coughed before answering him truthfully. "We dug it up, yes, under a tree and can sometimes be muddy, yes, but neither Rao nor Nine would ever come here and Issun hasn't bothered either, doubt he'd want to get dirty just for me." Waka raised his eyebrow again. "Not like that! Look, nobody would bother but us to get away, it's not that bad, truly!"

Waka nodded understanding. "I get it; I did something similar back in that god forsaken place."

"Right, so whenever you have any trouble, you can just go right inside, it's quite deep really, it goes on for another 5 meters and turns so they can't see us if they peep in, just to make it seem we dug away and got out the other end, but so far, there is no other end. We're working on that still." Waka nodded again. "So, what did you do to Rao?"

Waka smirked, "Honestly, you want to know?" I nodded, causing Waka to chuckle. "I declined her advances." I couldn't help but laugh, Waka laughed along with me. "Seriously, she was stroking my chest and I swear on my mother's life, she was trying to purr." That made me laugh harder, even though I had a feeling in my gut that twisted at the thought.

"The things she would try to do to get a guy to jump her." I chocked out, taking deep breaths from my hard laughing.

"Oh, trust me, I would never do the girl, her breasts would probably implode at the attempt." My giggles caught back up to me. I couldn't help but slap Waka's chest lightly.

"You're a funny guy; you'll be the death of me at this rate."

Waka smirked. "At least you go down happier, rather then those imploding breasts."

"Funny that they haven't yet."

"I can't wait until they do, but then again I don't want to clean up the mess." Waka made a weird face, imagining what the so called 'mess' would be like.

"So... really, what brought you here?"

Waka looked confused. "I already told you, my mother found a new job and we needed to move."

I sat down and patted beside me for Waka to do the same. He complied. "The way you talk, it doesn't seem that way... why did you really move here?" Waka shifted uncomfortably but didn't say anything. "Waka, you can talk to me, you know? I'd consider you a friend, a great friend; I wouldn't have shown you this place if I didn't, would've I?"

Waka sighed before finally looking at me. "It's not that... it's just... I haven't really talked about it, I didn't even press charges, I knew the police wouldn't do a thing about it so I ran..."

This was more serious then I thought. "What happened?"

Waka thought for a moment before answering. "Can I tell you tomorrow, during the study time we will have? It'll be easier, give me time to think of my words without freaking you out." I thought that was a fair enough request, so I accepted it.

"So... what are we going to do about Rao and Nine?" I didn't know if Waka had any idea how to handle this, it didn't seem so.

"I've no idea... hopefully, it'll just blow over in a few weeks and things will return to normal."

I shook my head. "No, don't you get it? Rao will never stop until she has you chained to some pole with your pants and boxers halfway down your legs and your cock in her mouth." Waka blinked. "I know, that was rather blunt of me, but Rao and Nine have pretty much terrorized this school and we're all sick of it, but nobody can do anything about it, either too scared or can't be bothered, generally." I sighed, letting out my frustration.

"Wow, you sure ramble when you're agitated." Waka chuckled. "I'm like that as well, I get agitated easily sometimes." He looked at me and smiled a genuine smile this time. "I'm glad I found a friend like you, Amaterasu. I wouldn't be half as at ease as I am now if you weren't here."

"I'm glad." I smiled back before standing up. "The bell is about to go to head home, do you want me to walk you back?"

Waka smiled. "Sure, that'd be great." He stood up as well before going to my side, waiting for me to lead the way.

Leading him the way, a young girl of no more then 12 ran towards us.

"Waka, brother!" She cried before near jumping at Waka. Waka hugged her back, although seemed taken aback slightly at the girl's reaction.

"Yes, Mom wouldn't like it if I left you behind, you know that Kaguya." He chuckled before letting go to take a look at her facial expression. "What's wrong?"

"I thought you had trouble again, that somebody locked you in a room like last time." Kaguya looked up at Waka, near tears for fear and concern for her older brother. Something was definitely up, whatever Waka was hiding from me was serious, he better tell me about it soon.

Waka sighed, clearly angry at himself for not realising it sooner. "I'm sorry, sister, I didn't mean for you to worry. I was just talking to a friend." He gestured at me and smiled again. "Kaguya, Amaterasu, Ammy meet my little sister, Kaguya."

I smiled and held out my hand, Kaguya looked at it for a while before taking it to shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you finally, the little sister of Waka." Kaguya smiled hearing that, glad she was at least not forgotten, but she also had this glint in her eye, the glint of mischief. I only hoped I wasn't involved in her plan.

"It's nice to meet you as well; finally I have a name to put to my brother's stare piece." She giggled; I couldn't help but blush slightly. Stare piece? Has Waka really been staring at me from a distance? Peculiar, yet exhilarating. Bah, what thoughts you have, Ammy. _Though still, that body... mmmm... _I shook those thoughts, no need to head that way, this wasn't a good place to need a change of underwear.

"Kaguya!" Waka gasped, his face turning red as a tomato, so it was true then. That confirmed it, for sure. "That is not something you tell another when you hardly know them!" He shook his head and turned away, pinching his nose, trying to calm down. I decided to intervene.

"Don't worry, Waka, I'm not offended at all, in fact, I find it quite flattering." I giggled, putting a hand on his shoulder to show I was serious and to help him calm down. There was a sudden shock on my hand and I pulled it back in reaction, huh? That had never happened before. I would say it was static, but it didn't feel like static... with static, you feel pain, but this spark... I'm not sure, but it felt like a good thing. Waka had flinched slightly too, so I knew he felt it too. "Sorry, static?"

Waka shrugged. "Didn't feel like it, but must be, nothing else it could be." I just had to agree to that, it was crazy to think it anything else, right? Kaguya then cleared her throat, before Waka threw her an irritated glance. "Yes?"

"Can we head home now? Mom said she was going to be home early today just to see how you coped with school." Waka sighed again and nodded, clearly bothered by this but trying his best to hide it.

He looked at me. "It's been nice meeting you, Ammy. I'll see you tomorrow, if you'd like." He smiled slightly, hopeful.

I could never say no to this man, I was doomed already. "Sure, that'd be wonderful; I'll wait for you by the gate."

"Great, oh, could we share numbers? You know, in case of a change in plans?" He seemed slightly nervous, I giggled before handing him my phone, it wasn't something modern, but it worked. Waka got out his own phone, more modern but nothing touch screen, and played with the phones, giving me my own back once he was done. Waka then went to hug me in a friendly way before turning to head off home with his sister. That guy sure could convince girls to do almost anything for him, least I was his puppet and he had me by his strings, for sure!

"Hey, Ammy!" I was brought back to the world hearing that shout, I turned around seeing Himiko coming towards me. "Hey, was that Ushiwaka?"

"It's Waka, but yes it was him." I smiled; I swear I probably had a goofy grin on my face, just from a simple hug as well, for crying out loud.

"Ok, out with it, what's with the face?"

I tried to frown, just to mess with her, but it was impossible. "What face?"

Himiko slapped me slightly on the arm. "You've got the goofiest looking grin I've seen in _years, _something happened, what happened?"

I shrugged. "Nothing much, I was talking to Waka for a while, I showed him the safe house."

"Oh yes, a lot of us heard about him and Rao, what did he do?"

"Turned down her advances, he told me."

Himiko laughed. "Well, no surprise there then I suppose, Rao hates not getting what she wants, so Waka is likely to be in for quite the time for a while."

I sighed, I had hoped he would be able to avoid that, sadly it seems unlikely. "I know, he's such a nice guy too, gives out good hugs too... but honestly, I don't think he's telling the truth about why he moved here." Now I brought on a real frown.

"What makes you say that?" Himiko blinked, not getting what I was telling her.

"He said he moved here because his mother needed a new job, but I've seen the way he acts around school, it's worrying."

"What do you mean?" Himiko was truly blind.

"Come on, it's not that hard to spot it! He looks behind him every few minutes in case somebody is going to sneak up on him, he tries to hide himself any way possible, keeping on the low down like he would rather disappear then be around here like every normal teenager, he flinches sometimes when I even touch him and have you seen the scar on his cheek? I think something happened to him back in Fukushima, he looks like he has never slept well at all."

Himiko blinked, before she smirked. "You have a thing for him."

My eyes might've burst open, if the statement weren't true, because listening to her say it, rather then me figuring it out slowly like most people do, I realise she's right, I _do _have a thing for him... oh my God, I have a crush on Ushiwaka Yoshitsune! Well, I shouldn't be so surprised; the guy was basically Adonis wearing near what I'd call a cape, what was better then Adonis wearing a cape? Him wearing nothing at all, of course. _There they go again, fucking... _

It's not often I curse, so Waka's effects must really be getting to me, damn it.

"Crap, what do I do!?"

"Ask him on a date, of course!"

"Himiko! Time and place! That is the least of my own and Waka's worries right now! I really, really want to know what happened to him to make him fear everything, nervous all the time and generally stick out like a peacock."

"You're really perceptive, did you know that?"

"A little help, would be grateful, Himiko, and today, not tomorrow." I sighed; Himiko really wasn't being of much help right now.

"Oh yes, right, sorry. Help, right... well, I say just hang around with him, like the good friend you are and support him, play being a psychiatrist, you did say you wanted to be one to help people."

I smiled, of course, that would work, I just hoped I was good enough, and that Waka would let me. "I'll ask him about it tomorrow, I meet him here at the school gates for him."

"Wow, seems like he has a thing for you and all too."

"Shut up, you can't prove that."

"Not yet anyway." I rolled my eyes at Himiko, being as twisted as ever, I suppose, in her own little way.

"I need to be heading home; Izanagi is expecting me to help him out at the farm, since winter is coming along real soon." Himiko nodded, taking in my excuse; well truly it wasn't an excuse. I did really need to help my uncle if we were to keep farming up and profits coming. Giving Himiko a hug and giving a goodbye wave, I walked on towards home.

I thought about what I was going to do whilst walking towards home. What had Waka so scared? He seemed fine to be able to stand up for himself in school, when I saw anyway, with Rao especially. Nobody ever denied Rao, mostly because her tits would already be in their faces before they could deny her, but Waka did just that, he denied her advances and made a run for it before it was too late. He knows how important it is to avoid those kind of girls, for that I was grateful.

Another thing bothered me, what Himiko had said. _You have a thing for him. _Those words wouldn't leave me; did I have a crush on him? No, surely not... I had only met him, but then again, some girls just crushed on guys the instant they lay eyes on them. I'm not that kind of person though; I never will be, surely not! There was no way I would turn to be like Nine or Rao... but I wasn't like them, even if I did have a crush on Waka. They didn't care for other people except themselves; I actually did care about Waka and wanted to know more about him. I was only going to gain that trust if I continued being friendly with him and helping him with anything that he needed, be his shoulder to cry on.

Arriving home, I see that Izanagi must already be outside, because the house was empty when I arrived. Dropping my bag, I went to get a quick glass of orange juice, drinking it before heading outside to meet up with him in the field.

"Hey, Izanagi, need any help?" I had found him tending to the pigs; we needed them for pork, obviously.

"Oh, Ammy, no that's ok, I've done most of the work around here but maybe you can take care of Bess?" Bess was our sheep dog, but she was starting to get too old to be a sheep dog anymore, we needed to grab a new sheep dog and keep Bess as a house dog, but so far we had little luck.

"Alright, I'll give her my best." I walked off inside to tend to Bess, she loved affection more then she did doing her work now, a clear sign she was starting to reach that old age.

Around the time I was about to go to bed, my cell phone rang. I checked the caller ID to see it come up as 'Great Musician Partner', what a name.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, Amaterasu, sorry am I interrupting anything?" _What was Waka calling me for? Not that I minded, he was quite nice and I did actually secretly consider calling him, but was too chicken to bother.

"No, not at all! I was actually getting ready to get into bed to read, I usually do to help get to sleep." I smiled, even though Waka couldn't see it, it was so relaxing to talk to him.

"_I actually do the same thing, scary how we are so much in common." _He chuckled on the other end of the phone. _"Anyway, I talked to my mother and she says she has to take Kaguya out tomorrow to see the neighbours so it'll just me you and me in that house all alone." _Hearing that made me giggle slightly, I couldn't help but want to tease him.

"And what are you implying there, Mr Yoshitsune?" I was sure that Waka's eyes were probably quite wide by now, picking up on my sexual innuendo.

"_Well, now, that will be for something I will know and something you may or may not find out. That would depend on your state of mind." _

"And pray to tell, what state of mind I would need to be in to find out?"

"_Let's see... mainly, you would have to have a state of mind which is positive, you should think good of yourself and that body of yours, then look at me, perfection in the flesh." _I couldn't help but laugh at that comment.

"Quite cocky, are you not?"

"_I try my best to impress the beautiful." _I bet he was smirking in that phone right then and there.

"You didn't impress Rao so much." I felt myself frown at that; I just had to bring down my high, didn't I?

"_I wasn't talking about Rao, that bitch could have her breasts explode and I wouldn't really care." _That brought a laugh back out and my smile to shine through, remembering our earlier conversation about Rao's imploding breasts.

"I don't think I'll ever forget that conversation, that was one of the most face lifting hilariously silly conversation I have had in ages."

"_That's good, that was my goal after all, glad I was successful." _There would be that smirk back again.

"Well I'm glad too, I love a good laugh."

"_I'm sure with some much hard work, I could do more." _

"Oh, do tell."

"_I'm not telling, you are going to have to find out with your devious mind, wouldn't want you to get thoughts that would surely shame the pope, do we?" _Waka chuckled, nearly laughing. So much for me teasing him, he was teasing me. Damn him, making my insides tingle, my folds to wet and nipples harden, curse him to hell.

"Great, thanks for that image, like I needed an image of imagining what you are thinking about, let me guess... me, served on a silver platter, with nothing but a little bow on my head?"

I heard him groan on the other side and raised my eyebrow, although he couldn't see that. _"Please, a guy here has needs and you are not helping his case." _I laughed, knowing what he meant. I heard some knocking on the phone then a bit of rustling. _"Oh crap, Mom, no you can't come in! I'm... busy, I'll come down in a few minutes." _There was some more rustling before Waka finally spoke back to me. _"Sorry, my mother needs my help with something then I have to get to bed. I will see you tomorrow beside the gate, so don't worry. Have a good night, Amaterasu."_

"Alright, no problem, night Waka." I heard him chuckle softly before he hung up to go help his mother.

Feeling suddenly really tired, I decided to not read a book like I usually do and just move off to sleep, it took only a few minutes for sleep to take me.

******

_I looked up into his eyes, those blue irises. They were as deep as the sea, easy to get lost in. His heaving breathing wasn't helping anymore with my own heavy breathing, on my concentration. I wanted to concentrate, so I could take detail into his perfectly planed chest. His hat was still on, it was the last of the clothing that needed to be taken off, I knew it would be a struggle for him to take it off._

"_Amaterasu." I looked back into his eyes, showing nothing but love and affection, maybe a hint of lust too, but I take more notice of the more complete positive points. He leaned forward, kissing me deeply and passionately. I take a deep breath, wrapping my arms around his neck. I moaned as he started rubbing my back, like he was giving me a massage, it felt so good. _

_I tugged at his wig, willing for it to be taken off. I pulled back to look back at him in the eye._

"_The wig must come off." I could tell me liked my dominant side. He smirked, still seeming a little shy before he grabbed his hat and took it off. The sight before me made me moan again._

"_Oh, Waka..."_

I shot up awake, what the hell was that about!? I checked the clock to see it was 3:30am, still time for more sleep. I lay back down to try again, but it came harder this time as realisation dawned on me. I was falling for him, hard.

That was the first of many nights that I dreamt of Waka Yoshitsune, I was in deep trouble.

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Well? Thoughts? Feelings? I finally brought some lemons in! Yay I'm happy lmao

Review please, I like them VERY VERY MUCH xD


	5. Side Effects

It's been a while since I have uploaded anything on this story, I'm aware of that. I'm working on 2 other fanfics, they're under Twilight, one down under quite popular demand. Don't be surprised if this story doesn't get updated much, Vampire Prince is currently being asked, begged even, to be uploaded ASAP ^^; plus I rather like the story xD

Now, I wasn't going to have this chapter go the way it has, at start, I drew a blank. What could really happen here in Waka's world without giving too much detail and ruin the surprise? Well, I decided upon this ^^ I'm hoping you like it just as much as I did writing it :D I probably changed my mind about this chapter about 3 times xD so yeah, forgive me if it sucks lol

Disclaimer~ Clover Studios owns most of these characters, I've just changed them human xD  
I made up the two police officers shown here, Officer Daigo and Officer Shiki. They are my own creation, although they won't last long, I still like them.

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Side Effects

**Waka's POV**

After the much humiliating talk with Ammy and Kaguya over, I was still pretty much dragged away when I kept glancing behind me, watching Ammy talk with her friend... Himiko, I think her name was.

"You really do love her, don't you?" Kaguya asked when we were halfway towards home. I look down at her, stunned yet annoyed at the same time. Just because things hadn't gone well back in our last location, didn't mean I needed somebody now.

"Kaguya, I appreciate that you want me to get better and you want to help, but just thrusting somebody into my life isn't going to help, it's going to cause complications and I just can't deal with them right now!" I snapped at her, more forcefully than I had intended. I could tell that hurt Kaguya, I felt like such a prick for saying that to her. I shouldn't have taken out my anger on her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Kaguya interrupted me. "Don't worry, I know how stressful school has been today, with starting anew and everything... and mom said she wants you to start therapy Friday after school." So soon? I knew therapy was something I needed, but I had thought mother would've given us more time to adjust, guess not.

"Do you think you can head home the rest of the way? I need..." Kaguya just nodded her head with a sad smile; she knew what I was asking. I gave her a quick hug before I turned and headed behind a nearby building that seemed like nobody really ever paid attention to.

I never felt proud when I did this, I only ever felt some slight relief after the drug works its way into my mind, but a little did a big difference on my part. Some may consider me idiotic and even immature for what I do, if they knew, but I just couldn't break off from any relief I needed. I was a guy; I had found that it had been proven that most suicide attempts and successes were from guys. I didn't want to commit suicide, but that didn't mean I would definitely not do it. That is one thing that terrifies me the most, suicide, if I became a vegetable or something just as equally terrifying along those lines. Kaguya was really the only thing keeping me here, my mother as well, but I know Kaguya would become emotionally scarred if something bad were to happen to me, I just couldn't inflict that kind of damage on her.

Blowing more smoke in the air from the now burning plant like drug, I became lost in my thoughts, thinking about today.

It was an ordeal, I will not lie there. It was a struggle to remain polite to some people, a struggle to not want to run away and the worst of it all was I had a new problem to deal with.

Hormones.

Why, o lord, why oh why did you bring this upon me now? Why couldn't I have been the average hormonal teenage boy back when I acted a teenager? I could better deal with that bullshit then but now… God. Why was I even cursing some person who doesn't exist anyway? By the gods… its gods, not a singular powerful dude, multiples, god-s!

Summing everything up about today, I could describe it as this.

Oki was the first I had met, he seemed like a nice guy, but he was constantly trying to ask Amaterasu out for a date and she just kept refusing. Hearing this didn't boost my ego. After talking to him more at lunch, I figured he was a pretty nice guy.

Himiko was different. She was the governor of the school, again she was nice. She was very confident and she was open to new ideas and would always be there to help.

Kaguya seemed to really like school today; she seems though to be trying to set me up with somebody. Since when does needing a girlfriend become top priority?

Whore... I smirk; I could never forget the conversation of the exploding tits. It was true though, if I was to risk biting those things, they would burst in a lovely bloody fountain. I wasn't fond of becoming a vampire, so such a thing would probably never happen. Plus, Big Tits really did scare me.

I have no idea who her friends were, all I knew was their names, Nine and Crimson. Their names didn't sound very appealing to me and from what I had witnessed from before, it was best to stay out of their way.

Abe and Kamo were good buddies, I could hang out with those two if need be, but they were together... they'd probably want private times; I couldn't invade their privacy like that.

Amaterasu... by the Gods, I could say so many things about her and never shut up. She was like an angel dropped from heaven, a goddess trapped down in the world or mortals. She was white like snow, pure as snow (because salt just doesn't work here) and in her own way... she was perfect, absolutely perfect.

If I could ever have the chance to ask her on a date, I would, but given she had rejected Oki several times, I don't find it likely such a thing will happen. Still, what harm could come of at least trying?

"You know you shouldn't, just give up." I jumped, startled that somebody had been reading my mind, or had I said those things out aloud? I hadn't thought so. I looked around but couldn't see anybody around.

"Who's there?"

"You're nothing but a transvestite, everybody knows that. Why bother going with a girl if you are a girl?" That voice... there was no mistaking it, it was definitely Orochi. How had he found me? So quickly, too? How, how, how!

I didn't waste any time, I simply dropped my smoke and ran, fast. I ran right home, I didn't want to risk stopping anywhere else, Orochi was dangerous and there was no way I was going to be sticking around for him to come and find me.

I didn't stick around for Kaguya to find me either, nor my mother, if she was even home yet. I ran right into my room and hid in a corner. I couldn't help myself; I buried my head in my arms and cried. I felt like such a weakling, guys my age didn't cry, yet here I was, having a break down.

I heard the door open but I didn't pay any attention to it; I couldn't focus on anything right now. All I could hear was my own muffled sobs and sniffs, could I be anymore pathetic? I felt arms wrap around me in a hug, I knew it was Kaguya by the size. She had seen me break down before and she knew how to handle it.

"Shh, it's ok Waka, I'm here." She was good at playing the mother figure, just she wouldn't be using it for a while, she better not be anyway. "I'm not surprised, first day of school is always stressful, just let it out."

"Shut up, you're making me sound like I have special needs." I looked up at Kaguya, still with tears wet on both my eyes and cheeks, but Kaguya was smiling, glad I was at least responding to her instead of kicking her out.

"In case you haven't noticed, brother, you are going to therapy. As soon as we can find one." I sighed but nodded, I knew going to therapy was something I needed. Maybe after therapy, there would be no need for the cannabis and I could lead a healthy life. I didn't always like taking it, I just took it so I wouldn't feel so bad, but I knew my mother was figuring something wasn't right. I was also running low and so far the only type of person to supply such a thing hates me, Crimson. This was not going too well to plan at all.

"Mom also called me down so you can have dinner; you've been up here for two hours already." Two hours? Mother must be really worried about me then, if two hours had gone by and I hadn't even noticed it. I nodded, whipping my cheeks and eyes with my sleeve to hopefully cover up the evidence of what I had been doing for the past hour. I stood up and headed downstairs.

Dinner wasn't bad, mother didn't ask too many questions, but I know the questions were yet to come, since she had clearly noticed my red eyes.

"Waka, can you come here for a moment, honey?" Crap, I knew I wasn't going to get away with heading upstairs quickly after I had cleared the table and washed up. I nodded silently and went back down the couple of steps I had managed to get up. How did she know I was going to run up and hide?

Mother noticed the expression on my face when I came back into the kitchen and laughed. "Mother's know everything." I rolled my eyes; that answer always meant nothing. "Honey, why don't you tell me what's wrong?" I shook my head, not wanting to speak for fear my voice would crack what little defence I had. "Aw, Waka, I know you've been crying, Kaguya didn't need to tell me that for me to know." I looked back up at her, suddenly irritated and angry that my sister would rat me out.

"She told you? She had no right, it's my problem, I'll deal with it." I snapped, I hadn't meant to, I felt bad immediately I realised what I had done. "I'm sorry..." I just shook my head and sat down on a chair nearby, looking away feeling my eyes burn, threatening for those tears to come back. Why did I have to be such a bipolar kid?

Mother shook her head and came to sit next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "You know, a problem shared is a problem halved."

I snorted. "Nobody really believes that anymore." I was still looking away from her.

"It's true though... why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"

I sighed, I could at least tell her one of my worries, the rest can wait. "It's just... overwhelming... after..." I couldn't finish the sentence, it was still too horrifying to remember, or for me to want to remember it. Sadly, I still did, I could still hear their chants of 'die, die, die' and the pain... the never ending pain... weeks in hospital, the trial... I shook my head and looked down; I didn't want my mother to see how badly it affected me. It was no use though; she wrapped an arm around my shoulder and brought my face to her chest, like I was some lost child. In some aspect, I suppose I was.

"There, hey shhh..." I hadn't even noticed I was sobbing until she took my hat off and stroked my damned golden hair. I just had to inherit from my dad, didn't I? "It's ok, honey, let it all out. You'll feel better in no time." I highly doubted that, how could I feel any better after everything we tried to accomplish has been shattered already? I came here to forget, my mother brought me here to heal, now_ he _is here too. Was there real any point anymore? "Now listen, I'll get you to a therapist tomorrow, how about that?"

I looked at my mother, after whipping the remaining tears away, and was about to agree, but something was bugging me. I was doing something tomorrow... I was going to Amaterasu's house. No, I couldn't cancel that... it wasn't exactly a date, but it was as close as it could get to one, there was no way I was missing this opportunity, not for anything.

I shook my head. "I can't... my partner asked me to help for our project."

This surprised her. "Oh really? Who's your friend?" Now, this was the difficult part... my friend... hopefully more then that, in the future, was indeed the opposite sex, last I had checked. Now, when any mother finds out you are friends with the opposite sex and are going to their house, they'd warn you about sex, you'd have to be safe. Why do mothers thing you are automatically going to their house to have sex? They have parents there too! By the gods, talk about frustrating. But I couldn't get away with lying; I had to tell the truth.

"Well..." I cursed in my head when I figured I was blushing. This was not helping!

"Ushiwaka, what has got you blushing?" I didn't answer, but she figured it out anyway. "Your friend is a girl?" I nodded. "A girl you like?" I nodded again. "A girl you want to be with." A pause... but I nodded again, my blush deepening. "No wonder you were so overwhelmed. Have you asked her out on a date?" I shook my head, it was true, technically, I hadn't. "Ok, honey. Therapy should start on Wednesday then, the day after tomorrow." I nodded and thanked her before putting my hat back on and headed upstairs to my room.

It was almost 10pm, Amaterasu might be heading to bed real soon and I still hadn't worked the courage to call her. I felt a lot more confident after I had my break down, but I still, it was nerve wrecking.

I sucked up the courage eventually to call her. I rang twice before she answered.

"_Hello?" _Shit, when did her voice become like a melody? I sucked in a breath and let it out before I spoke.

"Hey, Amaterasu, sorry am I interrupting anything?" I truly didn't want to be a bother to her; I just wanted to hear her voice.

"_No, not at all! I was actually getting ready to get into bed and read; I usually do to help get to sleep." _That was usually how I slept too, nightmares would've come otherwise.

"I actually do the same thing, scary how we have so much in common." I chuckled. "Anyway, I talked to my mother and she says it's fine, I can bring Kaguya over as well to see the lifestock." I heard Amaterasu giggle at the other end, did she find me amusing?

"_And what are you implying there, Mr Yoshitsune?" _What… was she flirting with me? Over the phone, no less? _Well, she must feel something for you, then. _For once, my self conscious has a positive outlook. I decided to play along.

"Well, now, that will be for something I will know and something you may or may not find out. That would depend on your state of mind."

"_And pray do tell, what state of mind I would need to be in to find out?"_

"Let's see... mainly, you would have to have a state of mind which is positive, you should think good of yourself and that body of yours, then look at me, perfection in the flesh." I know that was being quite cocky, but she never objected to my cockyness, at least I wasn't showing off completely.

"_Quite cocky, are you not?" _Didn't she know it.

"I try my best to impress the beautiful." I smirked, even though she couldn't see.

"_You didn't impress Rao so much." _Was it just me, or did I detect the hint of jealousy there?

"I wasn't talking about Rao, that bitch could have her breasts explode and I wouldn't really care." That would remain as one of the best conversations I've had in my time.

"_I don't think I'll ever forget that conversation, that was one of the most face lifting hilariously silly conversation I have had in ages."_

"That's good, that was my goal after all, glad I was successful." And yes, I was smirking again.

"_Well I'm glad too, I love a good laugh."_

"I'm sure with some much hard work, I could do more." Could I be anymore forward about my intentions, seriously?

"_Oh, do tell."_ Although, Amaterasu really doesn't seem to mind.

"I'm not telling, you are going to have to find out with your devious mind, wouldn't want you to get thoughts that would surely shame the pope, do we?" I almost laughed at this, I was sure she must be uncomfortable right now, but I was too.

"_Great, thanks for that image, like I needed an image of imagining what you are thinking about, let me guess... me, served on a silver platter, with nothing but a little bow on my head?" _Cue for the groan and a now excruciating hard on. That really wasn't going to be easy to get rid of.

"Please, a guy here has needs and you are not helping his case." I chuckled slightly, but I was almost in pain because of my problem. I heard a knock at the door and heard my mother's voice asking if she could come in. "Oh crap, Mom, no you can't come in! I'm... busy, I'll come down in a few minutes."

"Waka, what are you doing in there?" I moved off my mattress and left the phone on my bed before I opened the door.

"Mom, I was on the phone, you know... about the girl?" I blushed slightly again, I didn't move my lower body any further to her view.

"Oh, alright then." She winked, how very appropriate. "Just come downstairs in a few minutes, would you? I want to discuss about therapy with you." I sighed but nodded and closed the door. I went back to the phone to see that Amaterasu was still waiting for my return. With a smile, I picked the phone back up. "Sorry, my mother needs my help with something then I have to get to bed. I will see you tomorrow beside the gate, so don't worry. Have a good night, Amaterasu."

"_Alright, no problem, night Waka." _I told her goodnight before I hung up. I wasn't looking forward to the therapy talk with my mother. I thought back to earlier when I snuck to have a smoke. The voice... was it really Orochi? It sounded real, but I was smoking crack here.

I shook my head. No, the drugs help me, they've never done this before and I've been having these for a few years now, why would it bother to cause these symptoms to turn up now? But then, what? Orochi probably hasn't even realised I'd left the city yet.

"Waka, I'm waiting." I sighed; there was no getting out of this. With a final shake of the head, I went to head downstairs for a talk with mother dear.

"There you are, are you alright, honey?" Mother seemed worried, but I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because it's the first day of school, or did my sister rat to her that I had a walk off by myself? That thought annoyed me, she does sometimes. I always thought brothers and sisters were meant to keep things quiet between each other, it's easier to talk to a sibling then your mother sometimes, depending on the situation. Nobody ever wants to really go to their parent due to a bully problem, but in doing so, mine escalated out of control and we were forced to move. How can I fuck up a life so badly?

I just nodded silently, my face probably portraying my feelings. My mother sighed. "Look, Waka, maybe you should take some time off school, just until you get used to things." I looked up, surprised. Had my condition really worsened over a single day of school?

"Kaguya didn't keep her mouth shut, I see." I replied, snappily, crossing my arms across my chest and looking down, trying to maintain a strong look but probably failing. I hadn't meant to snap, but I was irritated that she would do that. Why? Hadn't I asked her to keep it between us?

"Waka, don't snap at me like that!" My mother didn't take snapping kindly and I flinched. She could be scary when she meant to be. I sighed and looked down, now ashamed.

"I'm sorry, mom." My mother nodded before she stood up and stood besides me. With a sigh, she stroked my head, as if she knew I just needed some form of comfort. When she did this, it made me want to confess things to her, but what could I say? Why should I tell her about the voice? Was it even... or was it real? I had no idea what to think, real or not, I was going to keep it to myself until it becomes serious.

"Look, I can see that school is putting some stress on you. What do you think of taking the time off school?" I looked at my mother and considered again. It would do me a world of good if I took time off school, but I had promised Amaterasu that I would meet her there, she'd probably be upset if I missed it. I wondered if I should at least risk it, I hadn't been attacked- well actually that's debatable. Just remembering Amaterasu though, her bright smile, those albino eyes, _the curves on her chest, her legs, her- _

I stopped there, no need for the hormonal teenager to come out right when he's in an important discussion with his mother. Therapy, yes, I'll do it. The voices I'll keep quiet about for now, I was rather shaken up so it most likely won't happen again. But Amaterasu, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, okay maybe not but it seemed like it. I wouldn't miss the chance for the world, so missing out school is out of the question, like the voice of Orochi said, I should grow some balls, and I'm doing just that.

Looking back at my mother, I told her, with confidence I never knew I still had existing, "I'm alright, mother, I really do want to go back to school." I smiled to show that I was serious.

Mother smiled a knowing smile. "It's that girl, isn't it?" I had to look down to hold the blush, was I really that obvious? My mother laughed. "Mothers know these things. You've never acted like this before; this girl must really be something." She then took down a seat next to me, getting closer so she could look me directly in the eyes. "So, what does she look like?"

I chuckled; I could go on and on to answer this question. "Well, first of all, she's an albino."

My mother looked surprised. "Really? I never knew there was an albino in your school." I threw an annoyed glance at her and she giggled. "Carry on."

I took off where I last left it. "She's my age, she's actually in my music class and she's also my partner, so yes I did ask because of the project, not a date."

Mother smirked knowingly but she let it slide. "If you feel up to it, then you're free to go over. Are you taking Kaguya?"

I nodded my head. "I'm meant to; Amaterasu owns a farm with her uncle so I thought it'd be great for Kaguya to see the life stock."

She smiled. "That sounds like a lovely idea, Waka."

I smiled back, glad to at least having finally made her happier. "I wanted to... make it up to her, you know... for messing up."

Her smile turned into a frown, but one of concern. "It wasn't your fault, Waka, we all make mistakes. You shouldn't blame yourself or be too hard on yourself like this." She sighed before she hugged me to my chest again. I resisted the urge to just curl up against her, I didn't deserve the care that I so needed.

"I should've done more then just ignore it, I should've told you, then maybe we wouldn't have had to move like we did."

Mother shook her head, from the feel of it, and ran a hand through my hat, until she took it off. I was never proud of the fact I seemed to have inherited what seemed like the goddess's hair do. Long blond hair, something that just simply didn't exist anymore. Nobody really took notice of the stories of our ancestors anymore, although we used to take it very seriously. Now, because of my hair, I could end up injured, beaten or picked on, simply for inheriting the hair of the gods, their symbol. I could ask for an eternity why the gods insisted I have their symbol carried upon me for as long as I live, but I would never get an answer. Cutting it was out of the question, I was horrified at the thought. Last somebody tried that, I threw a panic attack and knocked the gang out, before running off like Karma was right after me. That was not normal behaviour, but I didn't have a choice, it was involuntary.

"No, Waka, you couldn't have known they'd have gone that far, could you?" That was true, I was no mind reader, neither was I that great at judging people's reactions or stances. Surely, there must've been some sign that they would've done what they had.

There was a sudden knock on the door, startling my mother and I.

"Who could that be at..." she went to look at a nearby clock. "Ten thirty?" regardless of the time, she still got up to answer the door.

"Evening madam, I do apologise for the time but something just came up with Hebi Orochi's case. I'm officer Shiki, my partner is Daigo, whom you may remember." The person behind the door, although I couldn't see, was clearly male by the voice. My face suddenly paled and I felt sick to my stomach. _What did that bastard say to the cops? _

"It's no trouble, officer, you should come inside, my son is in the kitchen." I didn't really want to have to deal with this, but I had no choice in the matter. I put my hat back on, not really wanting the police officer to know about what lay beneath and looked down to fidget with my hands. I was hoping that if I didn't look up, he wouldn't know how nervous I was about this. I doubted he even needed to look at me in the eyes to know this, but it was a guess.

I heard them enter the kitchen easily, having tiles on the floor and police officers always seem to have boots on. I didn't look up, however.

"Hello, you must be Yoshistune Ushiwaka." The police officer sounded friendly, but it wasn't the officer himself that made me nervous, it was the news that he had.

"I'm sorry, officer, my son has just had his first day back at school, I thought it'd keep his mind from thinking back and maybe make new friends, but I think he's just exhausted from what happened." Ah, bless my mother whom had a heart of pure gold. She did speak the truth, I suppose, but the voice I heard from earlier is still hanging in my mind. I think I should let the officer at least know about this.

"That's understandable, I'll just tell the news, give advice and I can leave you in piece." He walked by the sounds of it and seemed to sit next to me. I couldn't help but turn to look at him. He probably stood about 5 ft 4. He wasn't a bad looking cop; one of those you'd just know is a cop by looking at him, a fit one at that.

"Wow, now you're turning gay." That voice... I turned my head a little to where I thought I heard it, but nothing was there. _Was I finally going mad? _"That'd be no surprise." I tensed slightly but decided to ignore the voice. It was all in my head.

"Are you alright, Ushiwaka?" The cop asked, he sounded concerned.

I looked back at him and cleared my throat. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you, but could you call me Waka? I'm not fond of my full name."

The officer didn't seem convinced but he let it slide. "Very well, Waka. I'm here because the court has finally decided on a trial date." The date was finally set? That was somewhat a relief, no more surprises, I hoped anyway. "it's been set for February 20th, so that gives us about 7 months."

That surprised me. "Why so long?"

The officer seemed to have a slightly grim face. "Orochi's lawyer asked for extra time to try to find a suitable doctor to diagnose him as schizophrenic."

I snorted, the idea was ludicrous. The idea was way too planned to have been schizophrenic, besides, you don't ask other people for help when you're schizophrenic, it was too ludicrous.

"That's what I thought as well. A waste of time, but I thought we could use that to our advantage." I looked at him, curious.

"Really?"

The officer nodded and smiled. "I thought it'd be easier for you to recover and get used to your surroundings before we jumped into the sentencing. This gives us more time to find evidence, now I know you are an eyewitness but the more evidence we find, the better chance we have of bringing him down." I smiled slightly at the thought, just to have Orochi behind bars, that was all I could hope for.

"That sounds like good news, should we be careful in case other officers or reporters appear?" My mother asked; I hadn't forgotten she was listening. I'd have to ask for privacy with the officer later.

The cop turned to look at her. "It would be best that you stay alert, I doubt that any reporters will come here, since they don't know where you've moved to, but for the cops, they might, but I'll try to hold them off." My mother nodded, grateful.

"Is there anything else?" The officer shook his head. "Thank heavens, when you first came by I had thought the worst."

The officer smiled. "I get that often, don't worry." He chuckled.

I decided now was the time to speak up. "Mother, can I have a private word with Officer Shiki, please?" My mother looked at me strangely but she nodded.

"Finish up by eleven though, you need your sleep." I smiled and nodded, letting her kiss me on the forehead before I looked at Officer Shiki. My mother left, closing the door behind her.

"So, son, what is it you wanted to ask? Is there something that concerns you?" The officer seemed concerned now, he had no idea why I asked for him to stay behind.

"I was just wondering... is Orochi out free? As in, not in jail?"

The cop frowned. "Last I heard, he was still in jail, but he was due to be released under officer watch in a week's time. Why did you want to know?"

I sighed, but decided to tell him the truth. "I... I heard his voice, earlier when I was walking home from school. I panicked and-"

"Whoa, stop there." The officer interrupted me. He looked really concerned now, probably because my face was as white and looked as sick as I felt. I was extremely nervous; I wasn't sure how the officer was going to react. "Did you want some water?" I nodded, not wanting to speak in case something else came out along with words. The officer stood up, grabbed a glass that was on show on the side and filled it with tap water, before sitting back down next to me and handing me the glass.

I drank it, hoping it would calm me down. It didn't work. A few seconds later I leapt up off my seat and made it to the sink just in time for the flood gates from my stomach to open. Officer Shiki got up and rubbed my back, trying to calm me down whilst I vomited violently. The images of Orochi and his gang just wouldn't leave my mind, the glare, the pain, the blood... especially the blood.

It took me a while, but I finally managed to calm down enough for me to drink some tap water to get rid of the acrid taste and, with the help of the officer, I managed to make it to my seat.

"What got you so worked up, Waka? I knew you were nervous, but something must've happened for you to react this way." He was beyond concerned now. In fact, he was keeping his walkie talkie really close to him. I took a deep breath, finally getting it under control until I told him, straight on.

"I asked my little sister, Kaguya, if she didn't mind I take a different route home, because I needed time to think. She agreed, because she knows the time alone does me a world of good, sometimes. She left and I walked through the route with many buildings. It was then that I heard..." I gulped, but decided to let it out. "His voice. Orochi's voice."

The officer looked perplexed, but he tried not to show it. "What did he say?" I tried to think back, he was teasing me about what I wear, and my hair. Called me a transvestite, mainly because he found it hilarious that I would be interested in a girl.

I sighed but answered. "He called me a transvestite, he found it hilarious that I would be in the least bit interested in a girl at school." I looked up to see the cop's reaction, but he seemed really worried now. Worse then before.

"Ushiwaka..." Nothing good ever comes when you hear your full name being spoken, either by parent or police officer. "Have you taken anything? Since you've been through so much stress, and by the sounds of it... are you taking _drugs?_" Shit, how did he come to a conclusion like that! Better still, how the hell do I lie about this? Goddesses, I pray to you, please give me some advice. I hear nothing, and I do nothing. Except for the one thing that proves my guilt, I look away. That's when the officer sighs. "Waka, you know that stuff is very bad for you, I'm sure your mother taught you better then this."

"Yes, I know, damnit!"I snapped, really suddenly. Bipolar Waka is back, with a vengeance. I shook my head and quickly turned apologetic. What was wrong with me? "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap, it's just..."

The officer sighed but patted my back. "I know, it's really stressful now, and you're going through way more stress then need be. What made you start, anyway?" Now was the difficult part. It'd probably just make the officer angry again, thinking I would've quit the moment I saw the truth.

"Well... Orochi recommended it, before he started pushing me around." I looked down.

"And you continued taking it, even after you found out Orochi was doing all those things?" Officer Shiki sounded incredulous.

"It helped me; it was just a way as a last resort to keep sane and happy. How did you think I lasted as long as I did without breaking and telling somebody?" It had taken me two months before I told the cops anything of what Orochi was doing, I was beyond scared, so I didn't tell. But the day he tried to kill me changed my view; I wasn't going to let him push me about anymore, so I turned him in.

"Regardless, those things are dangerous to your body and you should stop taking them if you've any chance of trying to get Orochi down. What is it you're taking anyway?"

I bit my lip, not really wanting to tell, so I kept quiet.

"Ushiwaka, tell me, what did you take?" The authority sounded through that voice, he could easily intimidate me into the answer. I wasn't sure it was a good idea to keep quiet. I decided not to.

"It's cannabis..."

The officer huffed in frustration. "Those are illegal as well, that just makes it all better." He was angry, that was the first time he chose to use sarcasm since his visit. "Waka, you should quit the drugs, by law I should take them with me, but I don't want other officers getting wind of this, it could really compromise us taking Orochi down. Please, for the sake of taking Orochi down if not for your own sake, quit those drugs and get rid of it."

I suppose I had no choice in the matter, I was running low as it is, so I may as well finish up what I have left and then quit, never take another again. What harm could a few more do?

"Ok, I promise." I nodded. "So, the voice in my head may be a result to the drugs?"

The cop nodded. "We've taken in criminals who've had the same symptoms as you. Hearing voices and even sometimes, worse, hallucinations. They recovered as they stopped taking it, however, so if you stop, these voices that you hear should stop. Unless, there's something else?"

I tried to think when I remembered Nine, Crimson and Rao. They hadn't done anything too bad yet, but I didn't want to take the chance. "I've already made a few enemies in school, some girl wasn't too happy I wasn't taking interest in her. She got a couple of her friends, one was male, to try to sort me out. I stayed away though, but I'm just worried. I don't want to take chances, just in case it turns out to be like Orochi again."

The cop nodded. "That sounds reasonable, here, have my number." He handed me a card with his full name and number. "Just in case you get into any trouble, just call me and I'll come along and see what I can do, if I've the time. If it's a real emergency, you let me know."

I looked at the cop and nodded. Grateful for his help, despite his particular distaste in me taking drugs. "Thank you, you've helped quite a lot. Could you do me a favour and keep this conversation from my mother? I don't want to cause her more stress then I already have. I've already made a mess and made us move from the city."

The officer nodded. "I'll keep my word, just to let you know, Orochi is not allowed to step within a mile of your perimeter. We didn't want him to try to find you, although I doubt he will. We just wanted to be safe." I nodded and went to show him to the door.

"I'll let my mother know of the news, I'm sure she'll be happy that he'll be out of our hair in no time." I smiled and opened the door.

"I'll meet you again soon, Waka, along with Officer Daigo. It'd be a nice reunion I'm sure." I remembered Officer Daigo well. He was the one that came first and found me in the condition that Orochi left me in. He was very friendly and helpful; I wouldn't have been half as calm as I had been if it wasn't for Daigo.

"Thank you, goodbye" I shook his hand before I shut the door as he left. As I went to head up the stairs, I found that my mother's bedroom door was shut. That meant she was asleep. I would just have to tell her in the morning, give her the news that Orochi wouldn't be around and that I would be safe as houses. Safe as houses can be.

I kept on to head for my own bedroom, changed and read a book. I couldn't absorb the words or even the title for that matter. My mind was too busy thinking about what to do about the drugs. How was I going to keep this quiet from my mother? I know it sounded simple to just finish them off and then be rid of them, but the officer informed me that the voices and, if it ever gets to that point, the hallucinations will stop. I wanted more then anything to stop the voices, but I wasn't too sure that just simply stopping will stop the voices completely. I had heard from stories on the news and television that some people even heard voices because of their self doubt, no drugs were even involved.

Was my condition like that? Was I just hearing voices because of self doubt? I know I doubted myself very much, thanks to the doing or Orochi, but if this was true, then stopping those drugs would be all for nothing. That was not something I was going to be happy about.

Sighing, I put the book aside and turned out the light, ready to go to sleep. A sleep that wasn't, sadly, as peaceful as I always hoped for sleep and dreams to be.

* * *

Yes, yes, poor Waka. High school can be like this, maybe not as dramatic as I'm making it, but high school is filled with drama. So let's bring it on, shall we? xD

Just to conclude, those two officers I made up myself, I couldn't think of a character in the game to play as a couple of cops, so I made some up. Hope you don't mind, yet again. I usually hate using OC's but I had no choice here I'm afraid. Never mind ^^ lmao

Review please =D it'd be very nice of you if you did lol  
~Blackie


	6. Author help and PREVIEW Ch5

Hey dudes, I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long. I haven't forgotten about this story, honest! I've been having problems.

See, I had a plot ready, just a bunch of random stuff of school days and Waka doing therapy and getting over a trial against Orochi (I love these court things) whilst banking himself a girl, Ammy, BUT I've hit a blank.

I've been staring at the file for weeks, just getting no ideas at all. I've got the wanting to get therapy into it, but that's all I've got. That's not going to fit into a 7,000 word long chapter. I need some ideas guys! If you have any ideas or any requests that I can take to heart about what to write in this chapter, then please let me know! Almost anything would be a big help right now! I wanted to write in Ammy's POV, but I just couldn't get any ideas but write unimportant shit that would bore you. You'd all be a big help for me!

I've also got a question. Okamiden arrived and I've been playing a bit of it. Should I include any Okamiden characters in this story? If I do, it'd be briefly and they would be friends with Kaguya (she's so cute and all) I haven't completed the game yet, I've gotten to Agata Forest and am currently trying to find the giant catfish thing that kidnapped Kuni. My game either glitched or I cocked up near the bottom with the flame wheel turning opposite the way you need to go and I get trapped between the two sides and get burnt. Can't get further. Fuck you game, fuck you.

Here's a preview of what I've done, see if this sparks any ideas for you guys. It's not much, but this is what I've been able to do despite being in the worst writers block ever.

Thank you all for being patient and I hope to update this properly soon, as soon as I get time and the inspiration to do so! Thanks for the help to those who give it!

**NOTE: You are free to review should you wish, I might actually keep this chapter up just to show my history and to let people review both this and the real chapter. Thank you!**

* * *

PREVIEW: Therapy

**Waka's POV**

Strangely, I never woke up to my alarm like I should've done. I figured out why later.

"What!"

"Dear, I can't have you going to school today." Apparently my mother turned the alarm off secretly whilst I was still sleeping. How the heck had she even managed that?

"But why? I'm perfectly capable to pay attention and take notes in school."

My mother sighed. "I'm sure you are, but I've been worried because of the police coming over yesterday. I would just feel better if you went to see your therapist today, calm yourself down."

So that brought me to feeling annoyed, I was meant to be meeting Amaterasu at school, but because of this unfortunate predicament, I was forced to cancel. I probably had to leave going to her house until next week too, since my mother wanted me to 'calm down' as she put it. This was certainly not turning out how I planned. Then again, I don't think anything ever really did turn out how I wished it would.

With a sigh, I texted Ammy. '_Can't make it to school today, I'm sorry.' _I didn't really want to elaborate the reason why. Would anybody really fancy a crack head who got picked on by a bunch of tards? It wasn't exactly great for my reputation, or what used to be my reputation. Before my father died and everything just crashed down, my shield broke and Orochi saw it, damn bastard saw it and took the chance. What an idiot I was for not seeing it sooner.

My phone vibrated, letting me know of a reply. My hands were near sweating, fearing what it was going to say. I had met really indecent people in my time, but I really wouldn't be prepared even if I had been around that many indecent people in my lifetime.

'_That's alright youre ok though right?' _I blinked; I hadn't thought she'd ask if I was ok, I thought more on the lines of demanding, guilt tripping including, of what I had and when I would be returning. I noted as well the grammar wasn't the best, but some mobiles just refused to work, I suppose. I couldn't complain.

I smiled slightly, replying; '_I'm fine, don't worry. I'll be better soon.' _Her thinking I was sick, in the physical sense at least, was probably easier than having to reveal how much of a weak excuse I was.

_Bet she'd just love to hear the stories of us, now, wouldn't she? _Fuck. In an attempt to block him out, I grasped my head, rather tightly, dangerously so. Trouble was, he was in my head, he wasn't real, grasping my head would make no difference, as about as effective as covering your ears from hearing your subconscious talking to you, which just doesn't do a thing at all.

_Don't you try to ignore me. _It acted just like Orochi as well. Ever the attention seeking prat he was.

"Ushiwaka, dear! Have some breakfast so we can get going!" I heard my mother call above Orochi's voice of, _coward. _I was sure glad she picked a good time, it shut Orochi right up. Putting a jacket on, I headed downstairs for some much needed normal food.

Mother didn't seem to be too worried about me when I went downstairs. She was probably putting on a brave face. Bless her little heart, having to deal with a nutcase like myself.

"I made you toast, just the way you like it." She patted my head as I sat down at the table. I nodded and tried to look grateful, I was actually grateful, I just had a hard time showing it, apparently. It seemed to work as she smiled to me. "We leave in ten minutes, I'll just get my handbag."


	7. Therapy

Fanfiction doesn't like my titles I put, it kept deleting it for this break up line. RAWR. FANFICTION, Y U SO PICKY?

WELL. Funny enough, I'm not dead on the Okami side. You all knew that, I was just having a terrible case of Writers Block xD I've somewhat recovered! I can't promise sooner updates, because I might jinx it, but I can try!

I took the advice of my friend, spiritndlionkingmad over on youtube for this story, and here we go with the plot! I managed to add some extras to her idea ;D

By popular demand, I shall be using Okamiden characters! There shouldn't be any spoilers, but they might show in the footnotes, otherwise, there are no spoilers in this story. I've finished the game, by the way, the final boss, Akuro, is SUCH A BASTARD. I think Kurow is harder though, but figuring out wtf I'm meant to do when Akuro charges his LAZOR (IMMA FIRIN' MA LAZOR anyone?) without being slaughtered xD

I want to clarify the differences and what not between cocaine and cannabis. I made a terrible error! (I think.) Crack is cocaine, whilst weed is cannabis. Cocaine isn't that different from cannabis, but cocaine is much stronger and a lot more unpredictable than cannabis. Cannabis is only REALLY dangerous if you have a heart problem, then it can kill you instantly. Cocaine is often sniffed, whilst cannabis is more often smoked. But cannabis can be sniffed, smoked and even eaten (there really are cannabis cakes, I want some! Trolol) Hope that clears any confusion!

Did you know that Coca Cola used to contain cocaine? It was trace amounts, but it was enough to get you addicted.

So, enjoy this finally long awaited chapter update!

* * *

Therapy

**Waka's POV**

Strangely, I never woke up to my alarm like I should've done. I figured out why later.

"What!"

"Dear, I can't have you going to school today." Apparently my mother turned the alarm off secretly whilst I was still sleeping. How the heck had she even managed that?

"But why? I'm perfectly capable to pay attention and take notes in school."

My mother sighed. "I'm sure you are, but I've been worried because of the police coming over yesterday. I would just feel better if you went to see your therapist today, calm yourself down."

So that brought me to feeling annoyed, I was meant to be meeting Amaterasu at school, but because of this unfortunate predicament, I was forced to cancel. I probably had to leave going to her house until next week too, since my mother wanted me to 'calm down' as she put it. This was certainly not turning out how I planned. Then again, I don't think anything ever really did turn out how I wished it would.

With a sigh, I texted Ammy. '_Can't make it to school today, I'm sorry.' _I didn't really want to elaborate the reason why. Would anybody really fancy a crack head who got picked on by a bunch of tards? It wasn't exactly great for my reputation, or what used to be my reputation. Before my father died and everything just crashed down, my shield broke and Orochi saw it, damn bastard saw it and took the chance. What an idiot I was for not seeing it sooner.

My phone vibrated, letting me know of a reply. My hands were near sweating, fearing what it was going to say. I had met really indecent people in my time, but I really wouldn't be prepared even if I had been around that many indecent people in my lifetime.

'_That's alright youre ok though right?' _I blinked; I hadn't thought she'd ask if I was ok, I thought more on the lines of demanding, guilt tripping including, of what I had and when I would be returning. I noted as well the grammar wasn't the best, but some mobiles just refused to work, I suppose. I couldn't complain.

I smiled slightly, replying; '_I'm fine, don't worry. I'll be better soon.' _Her thinking I was sick, in the physical sense at least, was probably easier than having to reveal how much of a weak excuse I was.

_Bet she'd just love to hear the stories of us, now, wouldn't she? _Fuck. In an attempt to block him out, I grasped my head, rather tightly, dangerously so. Trouble was, he was in my head, he wasn't real, grasping my head would make no difference, as about as effective as covering your ears from hearing your subconscious talking to you, which just doesn't do a thing at all.

_Don't you try to ignore me. _It acted just like Orochi as well. Ever the attention seeking prat he was.

"Ushiwaka, dear! Have some breakfast so we can get going!" I heard my mother call above Orochi's voice of, _coward. _I was sure glad she picked a good time, it shut Orochi right up. Putting a jacket on, I headed downstairs for some much needed normal food.

Mother didn't seem to be too worried about me when I went downstairs. She was probably putting on a brave face. Bless her little heart, having to deal with a nutcase like myself.

"I made you toast, just the way you like it." She patted my head as I sat down at the table. I nodded and tried to look grateful, I was actually grateful, I just had a hard time showing it, apparently. It seemed to work as she smiled to me. "We leave in ten minutes; I'll just get my handbag." Again, I nodded and grabbed my pieces of toast. Cut into halves from corner to corner so it was a triangle, just how I loved it. I felt the need for a more sugar rush, perhaps because my last dose of cocaine was a few too many hours more than I'm used to, to see if it could lift my spirits up a bit before going to the doctors. I didn't normally turn out in a great mood after the doctors (really, who didn't?) so having some sugar in me could probably help me in quite a ways. It's funny how things that are meant to be potentially dangerous or at least unhealthy to you makes you happier emotionally. I never understood endorphins or hormones or anything, ignore all manners of biology.

One thing that worried me though, was the risk of going back to cocaine if I needed it. I wouldn't say I was obsessed, but I was getting to the point of no return. So far, it hadn't been strong enough to reveal that I was crazy from it, my pupils stayed small enough to not be noticed by the regular human being, but a person who knows what to look for, a police officer for example, would be able to tell I was taking it. I'd been careful not to take too much, to only take what I felt I needed and not to take it every day. Smoking it was easier, because it wasn't just cocaine inside, there were all manners of things which weakened what the cannabis was meant to do, it was like smoking normally really only with added crack.

Did you know coke had crack in it, once upon a time?

So, it wasn't like I was exactly doing all that bad, right? I mean, how different is it to smoking a normal cigar?

But crack is against the law, a class B (or A, it keeps changing and it's hard to keep track) whilst the amount of cannabis I'm having is probably in the C class, same with tobacco and alcohol. Are they really that different that I could be breaking the law for something that is about as strong as tobacco?

The phone rang, causing me to near choke on my toast. Sometimes I wondered how human kind survived as long as it did, because I'm sure I've choked on my food more times than I can count. My mother came rushing back into the room quickly, having heard the phone and hurried to answer it.

"Hello? Oh, yes, Dr Redbeard!" _Dr who now? _Oh, that sounded bad, give the show a bad name. _Dr what now? _"Oh yes. Thanks so much! Yes. Yes. He can be with you in fifteen minutes. Really? Thank you! See you soon. Thanks. Bye!" Mother then turned towards me; she seemed to be beaming, for some reason or other. "That was your doctor on the phone." _Wait, wait, I get a doctor called Redbeard! Seriously! _"He said he had a cancellation and we can go visit him a few minutes earlier than planned."

"Oh, that's good." Was what I said, what I wanted to say was; 'fucking marvellous, I get a loony doctor to try to help a loony. How is this ever going to work? It won't, you silly woman!' But I was much too polite for that. Well, right now anyway.

"Well, hurry and eat your toast, we leave as soon as you're ready." It was a good thing that I was dressed already; I sometimes ate my toast really slowly.

After finishing my toast, I was loaded up into the car and we drove towards the local physicians. It wasn't a big place, this town, but it was big enough, close to a city. At least it was away from all the stress I had back at the other city I lived in. I can only hope that this place won't bring them back. Maybe after I'll just-

No wait. I promised Officer Shiki I would quit the drugs and try to live a normal life now. But the trial, would I really be able to handle it without chickening out or yelling something profound before I have the chance to stop it? I had no idea. Maybe I should get some to be on the safe side. For emergencies only. Yeah, sounds like a plan.

"Please, you know you'll be right on them the moment something doesn't go your way." I had to look over my shoulder. I was in the back of the car, whilst my mother was driving in the front. I got motion sickness from the front, oddly enough. I was surprised to see a snake (1) on my shoulder. I near screamed (so I can scream, saves lives) but then I noticed the snake appeared transparent. Another of my head tricks, just not so well done this time.

I decided not to answer the snake, besides; it was only in my head anyway. "You know you will, you always do, don't you?"

"Don't listen to him, Ushiwaka." Now I was getting freaked out. Looking over my other shoulder, I spotted a white wolf, also transparent. It had red markings on its fur, Gods knows what they meant or represented. "You're strong, you can do this, you can fight those urges. You promised Officer Shiki."

"Promises, what do they mean _really? _Your mother promised you everything would go better soon, and things haven't changed a bit. Can you really believe that promises mean anything?"

"You know she said it might take a while, Ushiwaka. She hasn't broken her promise; she's taking you to the doctor now, isn't she?"

"A doctor with a name like Redbeard isn't going to get you far, you know this."

"He's a doctor, a certified definite doctor that your mother went through a lot of talking to get for you to help you get better. You can't give up now, not when your mother gave up a lot to help you."

"Shut up." I whispered, leaned forward too fast and banged my head into the seat in front of me. It hurt a bit, but it made the voices stop and the pair of those animals disappear. Ah, silence at last.

"Waka, are you alright?" My mother must've heard my head go _thonk. _It did hurt, but I would live.

"Yes, mother, I'll be fine. Just got a headache." It was enough of a reason for her, though she didn't seem happy about it.

Arriving at the doctors' place, it seemed quite busy, but he had said he had a cancellation and could take me earlier. I got out of the car as soon as my mother stopped it, and she followed close behind me.

"Dr Redbeard said he would be waiting in his office, but we'll need to have the receptionist phone him to let him know first." I nodded, I had been to the doctors before, just the last one was about as useful as a horse with no hooves. Medication didn't really solve problems like this… actually, well, could I really say that?

Getting inside, it was like every other little GP area. (2) The waiting room was small with only a few people out there and a desk that held comics only aimed for the very stereotypical people, glamour magazines for the women, car magazines for the men and children's books for those little ones, nothing for someone like me. I didn't care about cars, I cared little about my looks and I learnt how to read when I was three or so. So I was left to my own devices to find entertainment. That was harder than I thought, since my mother had stricken up a conversation with the receptionist.

I didn't have to wait long before my name was called out, about five minutes tops, a blessing if I don't say so myself. I went along alone, leaving my mother to talk to the other people in the waiting room. She had little trouble fitting into the place, unlike me; she just had a heart that belonged to everyone, whilst I apparently didn't have one to give out.

The door was open when I arrived, so there was no chance to back out, even if I had wanted to. I saw what gave him the name, bloody hell. He was about forty or more so years of age, so I could assume he had experience with almost everything, and get this. _He had a red beard.(3) _Should I be shocked that someone of the name of Dr Redbeard would actually have a red beard? Because, in all actuality, I really was. I wasn't sure how long I stood there, just pondering whether it was some cruel joke from the secret service or something that required him to change his name, because no baby was ever born with a beard nor was anyone able to really see the future to know he would have a red beard (how did it eve get red in the first place, should be my question!) because the next thing I heard was the doctors' voice.

"Ah, you must be Mr Yoshitsune?" His voice hadn't surprised me, but it had caught me off guard. With a shy nod, I walked into his office and took a seat. I admit that I made a slight glance at the bed, hoping I won't be touching it, I'd prefer to sit normally and talk about the bullshit rather than talk to the ceiling whilst he just writes away as if he were eavesdropping, that the conversation wasn't for him.

"Now, my name is Dr Redbeard." _Yeah, no shit. _I couldn't help but still be bewildered by the fact his name is Redbeard and he has a motherfucking red beard. _I've got to tell Amaterasu about this when I get back, she'd kill herself over. _Hilarity aside, it wouldn't look good to not take him seriously. "Your mother has been telling me that you're in quite a tight spot."

I brought up head up hearing this. How much had she run her mouth off? "What did she tell you?" I kept my voice level, trying to keep the ice out of it, though it was difficult.

"Not much, I'm afraid, she told me that you had a traumatic experience and are having difficulties coping, what with you reaching that important age and moving." If he caught the ice in my voice, he didn't seem to notice. It was hard to get a read on this man, he spoke with experience, which was a good sign, but he didn't seem to really _care, _if you understand what I'm saying? Not yet, anyway, I didn't get that feel from him that he really cared what had happened. I'm not sure if this would last if this fact and feeling will remain. "Would you care to tell me, or is there anything you want to tell me?"

I was a bit curious as to how he put it, but when I took a good look, I spotted something. Suspicion. Huh? "Um… I don't think so, doctor." I was uncertain; there was something off about the way he asked.

"Really? Whilst it's difficult to see, a trained doctor like myself can deduce that your pupils are slightly dilated." _Ah, fuck! _Now I understood. Whilst my eyes were quite dark blue, almost black, it was really hard for someone to spot whether my pupils would dilute as a result of the cannabis. But this doctor knew what to look for, he knew the signs and he could spot that my eyes were dilated too much for comfort at a distance. He didn't even need to double check, he just knew. "Is there anything you want to tell me?" _Not particularly. _I bit my lip, preventing that very sentence from escaping. "Would you mind calming your leg down?" Confused, I looked down to spot my right leg bouncing up and down without any real meaning and without my acknowledgement even! Embarrassed, looking down, I put an arm on my leg and stopped the bouncing, but it was hard to keep it from continuing.

Redbeard seemed to frown. "What are or were you taking?"

I sighed, looking down so I didn't have to watch his reaction. "Cannabis."

Redbeard sighed, but he didn't go explode to me like I expected from him. Not like the police officer had. "It seems you're going through the first stage of withdrawals. How long has it been since you had your last dose?" The last?

"Yesterday, about 3:40pm." It was now 11:45am the next day. I was used to having a bit every few hours, I supposed, like usual smokers did. It had almost been twenty four hours since my last, the longest I had ever gone without taking one since I had started. No wonder I was constantly jumping and complaining about everything, even finding his name a lot more hilarious than it probably was.

"How long have you been taking it?"

"Since… for about nearly a year now, I think." I hadn't even realised how long it had been since I'd first taken drugs from that fiend. I could still remember how it happened.

…

"_Yo, Yoshi!" I flinched. It wasn't my real name, just Orochi preferred to undermine me by the use of my shortened surname. _

"_Orochi, it's Yoshitsune, it's not that hard to say." I said it quietly, but he surely heard. He walked up beside me, strangely enough alone with nobody else following him behind like the king he put up to be. He wasn't forceful, but an arm to the side was a clear warning that if I didn't follow him, bad things would follow. I had no choice but to follow. _

_He led me to the back of the school building, just as the bell went for the end of break. I opened my mouth to ask what he wanted, when he held out a packet. It was a plastic wallet almost, for carrying money inside, and inside was what looked to be ferns. But in a packet like that, hidden in his pocket, taken out back behind the school and then shown it after the bell had gone. It was obvious what it was. _

"_Now, now, Yoshi, you've been in my gang for a while now." Truth was; I wasn't. I was just dragged unwillingly everywhere because if I didn't go with them… I didn't want to imagine it. I had to watch as they set a house on fire, with the people still asleep in that building. Watched as they burgled a house that needed the money. Always, they tried to force me into the house, but they knew that if I was being unwilling, it would give the people the chance to call the police really quickly. It was the reason I was reluctant to call the police on Orochi, first because he could hurt me, but second because I might be dragged in and charged guilty for it too._

"_But nobody else takes drugs, except maybe Lechu and Nechu." They were rather strange, I reckon they were on Speed, but I had no definitive proof of that. _

"_Dude, I've been taking these since I was thirteen." He was bluffing. "They do you good, trust me!"_

"_I'm not about to get caught by the cops, or worse a teacher." _

"_Then don't get caught, keep it hidden. You're having a tough time, what with your old man dying and all." I reacted without thinking; my fist left its place by my side and planted itself in Orochi's face quick as a flash. I surprised even myself with that move, but the bastard deserved it for touching a delicate subject and knowing he was doing so. _

_Orochi was not impressed. After he recovered, I felt so weak he didn't even have a bloody nose, he grabbed me by the neck, not tight enough to strangle but a definite warning. "You know I don't like it when you fight back, Yoshi." I knew he didn't, but even if I tried telling him it was entirely instinctive, that I didn't even realise I had done it until it had already happened, he'd laugh. _

_I nodded quickly, repairing the damage I had done. If I didn't keep it, I would never be able to forgive myself for what I'd put upon my family. _

_Orochi smirked. "Good, now you'll know to take this like a good dog and not cause trouble." I nodded quickly again, not even hesitating anymore, not for my own life, but for my family. My family didn't know about this, but it seemed better that way. Leave them oblivious to the danger that could come should I fail. _

_With a wink, Orochi thrust the packet to my chest and let me go before walking away. I fell to the floor on my arse, glancing down at the drugs. He hadn't told me, but they looked like cannabis. I recalled seeing something about drugs the other day when the cops came around to give a talk about them. If I was being forced to take these to keep my family and our house and possessions safe, then I should look up the dangers, the symptoms and what to expect. It would make things a lot easier to hide the fact I'm taking them, what dosage would keep it down and what would be safe to take. _

_But, I had to admit that a sneaky thought did fly through my head. The thought of framing Orochi. They had done the same to me and I had gotten into big trouble because of it, unable to deny it because Orochi would keep the blackmail up. I should really tell the cops about this, but I'm still afraid that Orochi would somehow find out, he always had every time I picked my mobile up; he was on me like a bloodhound. How he did it, I had no idea. _

_The very last time I tried to defile Orochi was that time, during dinner, I snuck to his lockers (4). I'd overheard that the police were coming over again for an inspection, something they've made a point of doing since the crime rates were so high. So, I used it to my advantage. After picking his lock, it really wasn't hard when you knew him as well as I did, and hid the packet of cannabis in his bag before closing it quickly._

_I thought I had gotten away with it, but I hadn't. It was stupid to expect that the cops would just hurry and find it. Some of Orochi's goons I never had the pleasure of knowing their names cornered me just a little before the time was coming for the police to make their inspections. I tried to run, honestly, I did, but two against one, I didn't really stand much of a chance. I did fare better than I thought though, that was a plus. _

_Once I had been caught… I'd really rather not remember, but I knew it wasn't pretty. I didn't move from that spot until someone found me, but I just told them to piss off when they try to help me._

_Too bad it was a police officer that found me in that state. They are right nosey bastards, did you know? They kept asking how I ended up like that, what I was doing there and who did the damage to me. I refused to answer, shaking my head and telling them that it was my own fault and it was sorted now. It was a lie, but that was what I was sticking to. They kept pressing for me to tell them, I was surprised they didn't even smack me upside the head for telling them to piss off, but maybe they had common sense, actually figuring out that, yes indeed, I was a little bit too disorientated to really tell that who I was telling to piss off was a police officer at all. They had a dog, a Cocker Spaniel it looked like. An obvious sniffer dog, nudging me with its nose, tail wagging constantly, as if it never wore out, and sniffing me. I was scared that it would be able to sniff out the cannabis I had held, but I had never opened the packet, would it be able to tell even so?_

_A few moments passed before the dog got down and headed back to its owner as if nothing ever happened. I got away with it that time, but I knew I wouldn't always be so lucky. Orochi was apparently proud of me for not fessing him up to the cops, which wasn't something I myself was particularly proud of. I never tried to fuss out Orochi ever again nor did I ever look at a cop the same way again, annoyed at them for not being smart enough to figure what was going on in my life, they seemed smart enough every other time. But I had nobody but myself to blame._

…

The doctor told me to stop taking cannabis anymore, no matter what way, either smoking, sniffing or eating it. I should stop and resist the temptation, though he said it would be difficult to do so. He said it would also be likely that I would retort to drinking alcohol, because it helps relax the muscles if you're suffering from withdrawals. He gave me pamphlets and let me know that there were meetings for me to be able to join and go to, without my mother knowing, as this would be completely confidential, if things got tough. He told me that many he had recommended going there still meet up with the rest of the group and have become really good friends through the meetings. I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not.

I decided to believe him, but I kept the pamphlets a secret from my mother, folding them and hiding them in the pockets of my trousers. The first meeting, so he told, was in about two days' time at the town hall. I felt like a freak going to it, but it was probably for the best, given that I had nothing better to do.

The first day of the so called 'therapy' was strange indeed. All Redbeard seemed to ask was how I felt and about how I was taking to moving to a new school. He didn't push at all; I was free to pass on a question, as if it were some quiz show. I was alright with that. I really didn't fancy either breaking down or blurting things out to him, not the cleverest of ideas of mine, I'm aware.

Finding my mother, I asked her kindly if we could take a walk before we headed home. I felt the need to walk, probably an effect from the withdrawals, but I knew it was going to be much harder for me. That and Orochi's voice seemed to leave my head when I was nearby my mother. I hadn't mentioned that to Redbeard, I thought it better not to mention it to him yet. Who knew, he may very well tell my mother about this. Despite it being confidential, I wanted to keep at least a little bit to myself. I was allowed that privilege, was I not?

The streets were quiet, not surprising given that it was the typical day of work and school. Tourists didn't usually stay around this late in the autumn, so the Japanese streets were as quiet as usual. Though the few shops were open, nobody was really rushing about to do things. My mother was talking about something inane I didn't really want to know about. Something about somebody saying something or other, when a sudden flier caught my attention. Normally I ignored things like this, but this was like an answer to a prayer I had been praying for for a long time. It was an advert on martial arts lessons, for any age. It didn't matter how bad or good you were, if you had experience before or where a complete noobie at it, you were welcome.

"Hey, mom?" I turned back to my mother, pulling at her arm to get her to stop before she crossed the road again.

She seemed startled but she stopped. "What is it, sweetie?" I pointed to the flier; she looked at it and seemed conflicted. "I don't know, are you sure it's safe?"

"It's safer than letting what happened before happen again. I could defend myself! We won't be relying on the cops so often!"

"I don't know… do they allow that?"

I nodded. "If it's self-defence, this is what dojos are for! C'mon, please mother?"

She sighed before nodding. "Alright, let's go see if we can sign up and see how much it costs." My first ever big smile appeared on that day, the day I will get signed up, hopefully, to some martial arts lessons.

The dojo was about a thirty minute walk from my house if I were to try. Perhaps later I would, but right now I was still very new to the area. The dojo looked as I had expected; a huge garden with a lake, red building with paper sliding doors (it looked like paper anyway) with gentle bells ringing in the background from the trees. Still, I couldn't help but be amazed, even though it was what I was expecting; I was seeing one in real life! My mother was equally fascinated. She had never seen a garden like this either, already, just seeing the garden in which I could spend much of my time inside, I was excited to get joined up.

Knocking on the door, a voice called to say we were allowed to enter, and enter we did. Inside, there was a sign telling us we had to take our shoes and socks off, which was fine by us, before we could proceed. It was nice and warm inside, the sun was shining still outside and keeping the temperature an average of twenty degrees centigrade. (5) The inside again looked like the stereotypical town dojo but, oddly enough, some of the lanterns around were lit.

"In here." It was an old voice that called us into the room, about forty years or so in age, and I wasn't surprised to find that the dojo master certainly was as old as the voice suggested. He was dressed in his dojo outfit, he wasn't too tall, but tall enough to not make me feel too intimidated and he held himself in a way that made you think twice about how you were going to word what you were going to say.

"Welcome, I'm Master Fuery (6), what is it that you ask me of?" The Dojo Master asked, looking at both me and my mother.

My mother cleared hear throat before she tried speaking. "Hello Master Fuery. It's my son, he saw a flier you posted and he was hoping to be trained in Martial Arts."

Master Fuery looked at me, scrutinizing. It made me feel like he was trying to assess if I was good enough or worth his time. "Really now? He's a bit small to be learning Martial Arts, isn't he?"

That was not what I expected from a Dojo Master. I was quite pissed, quite honestly. "Size doesn't matter when it comes to wanting to learn, does it?"

Fuery shrugged. "It depends how willing you are to learn. But you look far too skinny and unfit to learn Martial Arts. Now, be on your way." He turned away and sat down, crossing his legs to begin praying. Normally, I would've just shrugged and walked off, but I wanted this badly. And this guy ticked me off so bad! It's like he knew which buttons to press to get me to do just as he wanted. I didn't care if I was playing into his hands; I was going to get those lessons.

"Waka, honey, it doesn't matter. We'll try somewhere else, ok?" Mother tried to console me and grabbed my hand to pull me towards the door, but I got out of her grip fast. No, it wasn't ok; he didn't know a thing about me. How did he have the right to judge me simply by looks? With a glint in my eyes I didn't know was still alive after all this time, I walked right up to Master Fuery, around and in front of him, before I sat down the same way as him, stubborn and unmoving. Master Fuery refused to look up and my mother just stood and watched as I glared at him, his eyes closed and not seeing it.

"What is it, runt?" He said finally after a minute of absolute silence. I growled slightly at the name, before I let my temper get the better of me.

"Now listen here, I don't care if you're a Dojo Master or you have a name like Fuery or any of that. I came here simply to get some martial arts lessons and you turn me away purely by looks?" I snorted. "How dare you! So I dress strangely, so I'm really skinny and I don't really look fit but I can assure you I am, that's still no way to treat me. You said so on your flier that you would accept anybody whether they were good at martial arts or have never done it before. Stick to your advertisements, why don't you." I hadn't meant to say all that, and I had probably crossed a line by almost calling him, outright, a bastard.

"Hm. You have quite the temper, I didn't expect that." Fuery commented.

I huffed slightly. "There's a lot about me you don't know. So I appear like a right pussy on the outside, you don't know what's happening on the inside or what my head is thinking right this moment."

"Really? Then please do tell me, Mister Waka." Master Fuery opened his eyes, looking at me with eagle eyes that were attempting to look deep into my soul. "Care to tell me why you want the lessons so badly?"

That caught me off guard; I hadn't been expecting that question, though I really should've done.

"You seem to be hiding something; you're hiding something from everyone. I see that look in your eyes." I flinched, a reaction he was expecting and he laughed. "Why should I have someone that is clearly hiding something from the world join the dojo? You don't appear trustworthy and trust is a strong thing needed to be inside and stay in the dojo. So, tell me, Ushiwaka Yoshitsune, why should I let you into my dojo ever again?" Mother thought I was just hiding what happened back home, but he clearly stated 'everyone' including my family. Lucky for me, my mother wasn't as sharp as I was to catch his words.

I looked up at Master Fuery, then recalled yesterday, with Rao trying to overwhelm me, then her bringing her friend Nine and Crimson. Them trying to find me, hearing that Amaterasu has the same problem with Nine, Rao and Crimson continually trying to make fun of her and her friends. Where she built a rabbit hole to fit herself inside to lose them off her trail. I could protect her, if I could just learn martial arts, I could beat those son of a bitches without a care in the world should they try to hurt my friends or myself. I could depend on myself, no longer have to use the police whenever I feel frightened, I would be free to live as I always wanted to, in peace and fucking quiet.

So, with a determined look in my eye, knowing why I was doing this again, I looked him right in the eye and told him the truth. "Because I want to do things for myself, I want to stop relying on people to do things for me and I want to protect those ones I love. Surely, you will allow me to do that in time?"

Master Fuery didn't react for a few seconds, before a smile broke out. "An answer like that was just what I was after." He stood up slowly. "I knew, deep down, there was a real reason you wanted to join, but I have to be careful these days, as the rising number of gangs in the area are causing us to be more choosy about who we pick to teach the arts of our ancestors."

I nodded, understanding before I stood up and did a slight bow. "Master Fuery, I would be honoured if you will take me as your student and teach me the ways of our ancestors. Will you allow it?"

Master Fuery nodded, though I couldn't see it, but he answered verbally as well. "Yes, I shall allow it." I straightened up and broke out in a smile, happy that I managed to pass his test and get in his good graces. "You are the only one I've found so far to be accepted not to use these arts for evil, that evil being used for gangs. Gangs are dangerous enough with their guns than to be taught the ways of our ancestors." Master Fuery then brought out a teaching stick, made out of bamboo but clearly used to make you pay attention if you weren't doing as such. "Now, you shall refer to me as Teacher or Master inside or outside the Dojo at any one time, do you understand?"

"I understand, Master."

"Good. You are to do everything I ask you to without complaint even if it sounds ludicrous and you shan't complain that you are tired, hungry or need the toilet at any one time. You are to always raise your hand and ask politely. Oh, and also," He brought his stick and brought it down upon my head. It hurt, and I was about to complain already when he tapped my nose several times. "No swearing, we do not tolerate foul language inside the dojo grounds. You will not miss a lesson for minor reasons unless you are almost near the point of death, and you will not hear you cry if these lessons turn out to be too difficult for you. If you leave or do not turn up for a day without a given valid reason, then I will stop teaching you. Is that clear?" They seemed like mighty strict rules, but if I wanted to prove myself and get through these lessons and become stronger and more independent, I will do as he asks, no matter the cost.

I bowed down again, "Yes, Master Fuery, I swear it upon my ancestors."

He seemed satisfied. "Good boy, now, your first lesson shall be tomorrow, I'm assuming you still attend to school in the town?" I nodded to confirm his question. "I can't hear you."

Oh boy. "Yes Master."

"Good, well that means that our lessons on weekdays shall be restricted to being after school hours, but I'm sure you can make it on Sundays, if need be?"

"Yes Master, Sundays are pretty empty for me."

"Good. Well, we can train on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. 5:15pm on Tuesdays and Fridays and 12:00 in the afternoon on Sundays. Is that agreeable?" he looked towards my mother for the answer to this question, guessing that she would know better.

My mother nodded. "Yes, that should be ok. Oh, but my son might be going to some therapy sessions as well, but we can try to negotiate on those should it become a problem." Oh, way to go on keeping that quiet.

Master Fuery didn't seem to notice, either that or he didn't care, and he nodded. "Good. Now, take this flier with you, it has my number on it should it be a problem to arrive for any lessons and let me know in advance if you can. Our first lesson can start on Thursday, as tomorrow I will be busy on getting my equipment ready and buying my groceries. That and I think you deserve a bit of a break before we go into training. Thursday's lesson you must tell me any medical health problems you've had either now or in the past, just as a health and safety check and we can begin training at once."

"Thank you very much, Master Fuery. I'll be sure to double check Waka's medical forms." She then asked about the payment, but Master Fuery told her not to fear, that the pay would be about as much as my dinner would probably cost. He said he didn't really need the money, but it was simply a bonus for the joys of teaching others the way of the ancestors. He sure had a thing about our ancestors; I sometimes wondered why we didn't study more about it in school.

So, I got a lesson in martial arts. I couldn't wait to tell Amaterasu! But looking at my phone, I realised she would be in her lessons for pretty much the rest of the day and she probably won't be able to find the time to text me back again. She had sent me a text earlier when I was with Dr Redbeard, telling me she hoped I would get better soon and that she will see me tomorrow. She would wait at the gates like promised, since I was forced into taking the day off, as if I had never missed anything. She also reassured me that I hadn't missed anything in our music lessons, the teacher was just rambling as usual and that I was lucky to have missed it, it was that boring and irrelevant. Rao, Nine and Crimson were in school, she told me, going on a hunting trip trying to find me. She told me they had asked her, but when she told them I was sick, they left her alone and apparently commented on how "I deserved it for not giving Rao some of that." Really? Were some women so deluded that they thought all guys thought sex as a currency? I'd avoid that pack any day.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and I wasn't going to waste another minute to tell Amaterasu as much as I could about the day. I was finally getting my life back in track and I was going to use this second chance the gods rewarded me with and not mess it up, not anymore!

* * *

So, there we have it! I hope this makes up for months of not updating and having trouble writing. I really hope it's good enough!

Review and everything. Be honest, bros!

~Blackie

Footnotes~

(1) Remember in the Orochi fight, there were servants of Orochi all around the floor if you took a while to fight Orochi? It's that.

(2) This is how the doctors work in my country. You ring for an appointment (otherwise you WILL be waiting for ages) and then you turn up, get checked and you're done! Easy, no?

(3) I'm aware he really has a red MOUSTACHE, not a red beard, but let's just be hilarious for the sake, no?

(4) My school doesn't have lockers, not for everyone anyway. You're lucky to GET a locker, we just throw our bags in the cloakrooms or any wooden table sort of thing we can find.

(5) 68 degrees Fahrenheit or 293.15 kelvin

(6) His name is King Fury in the game, but I'm unaware or don't remember what his name was BEFORE he turned into a baddie hell bent on revenge and got possessed. So, I decided to call him Fuery, spelt that way after a character from Fullmetal Alchemist of the same name.


	8. Firsties

Here we are! Another chapter. Only took two years.

I'm the worst person in the world.

Considering I'm now in university, I'm going to be starting my final year come September and I've forgotten most of my high school life already xD it's been like four years since I went and had to deal with it and frankly, high school was the worst thing ever. I stopped giving a shit about anything, probably like most people. ^^;

I've finally updated it and I hope to keep in touch with this fanfiction and NOT FORGET ABOUT IT. I'm a terrible person, really. Anyway I hope this longer chapter makes it worth the wait and... THEIR FIRST DATE~

Bear in mind I tried to be as realistic as I possibly could. I've only dated two guys and recently discovered I do not like the male sex sexually, SO. Needless to say, the dates were awkward, I've never had a good date, probably because I was with the wrong gender. Sure answers questions, regardless that means nothing. It just means that I'm rubbish at writing dates and I've no idea if it's realistic at all or if I'm just taking stuff from Fifty Shades of Grey (FYI that book is horrendous.)

Let me know what you think, if I suck at writing dates, suck at romance and can't write realistically for shit. It helps me improve! Just make sure you tell me why, otherwise I just add it to my pile of rubbish xD! Hope this chapter makes up for the BLANK NOTHINGNESS of a couple of years!

* * *

Firsties

School was about as monotone as it had been before Waka had shown up the first day and excited the class and the school as a whole. Nothing notable had happened, the teachers were the same, it was a Wednesday, everything seemed like it was blank and written on paper all over again. How Waka made such a difference in my life, I have no idea. We did fit well together, we were able to talk easily and calmly without running out of things to say or falling into an awkward silence for a long time like some people who newly meet do. He fit in really easily into the school and made friends and enemies really quickly, hopefully with the right people in each. I felt sorry for him at first, a new kid in an unfamiliar world and Rao had made her home by pushing her rather large breasts into Waka, hoping to be the first to lay on Waka. Every boy got it, he was not special, but I could tell Waka was uncomfortable by the way he shifted after telling me the tale.

But, somehow, along the way, I had grown rather fond of him rather quickly. I didn't think it was possible to grow fond of someone rather quickly.

I brought it up with Himiko, confused and needing some help.

Himiko smiled, so bright I was worried about her mental health. "Awww, Amaterasu, are you becoming fond of that new boy, Ushiwaka or something?"

I cleared my throat, "Um, I guess so? His name is Waka, by the way, Himiko."

Her smile reached Cheshire cat level, "Oh you so do! You fancy Waka."

"I what?"

"You've got a crush on Waka. Or rather, you fancy him, that sounds rather more appealing."

"But, what if I just really like him as a friend? What if it's not meant to be and it'll just be a mistake and it'll ruin the friendship?"

Himiko shook her head at my fears. "Those are normal fears when you're in this situation. But trust me, you guys get along like a house on fire, you get along really easily and the room gets hot when you're together. You'll be great together as a couple! I can see it now, you'd be so adorable together! I know Waka likes you."

I was quick to look at Himiko, frightened and yet curious as to what Waka had told her. "What did he say?"

Himiko smirked. Caught in her trap like a mouse, terrific going Ammy. "Nothing. It's just this obvious look boys have when they like someone. Boys are rather easy to read if you learn them enough. I've been around plenty of boys, but I haven't fully settled, but I'm happy for you, Ammy. You found a good person that you really like, and it's lovely to finally see you smile properly again. You haven't smiled very much recently, I was getting worried."

I did smile, just not in the way Himiko wanted me to smile, "I'm sorry, Himiko. I've been just getting rather bored with work and school, and then there's Nine and her gang bothering around. It's one of those stupid teenager things, I'll hopefully break out of it." It's what I hoped, but life was just feeling a bit black and white recently. I assumed it was growing up, seeing the world as something not as colourful as you once did as a toddler, suddenly life seemed so much more awful and horrible. Not to say that life was horrible and awful, but definitely not the rainbows you once pictured as a child. Maybe I was just not as naive anymore and was waking up, or I was just being a stupid teenager. I don't know, but it has still been bothering me. There wasn't much I could do, however, but carry on as normal and hope the feeling passes away soon.

"I think that's just part of growing up, hun. I know, I've been feeling the same. My mother says it's growing up. Sucks, doesn't it?"

I had to smile at that one. "It sure does, I remember when I was little and Shiranui was still a puppy, now we've got Chibi growing up as a puppy and Shiranui is going to have to retire as a sheep dog soon."

Himiko shook her head. "Now let's get out of depressed area and go back to focusing on your date."

I blinked, "My date?"

"Sure! Waka is totally going to ask you on a date soon, that boy seems the ambitious type, he doesn't look like he'll waste any time and is going to try to sweep you off your feet."

That was how I was stuck clothes shopping with Himiko and Sakuya. I wasn't too keen on clothes shopping, but compared to Himiko and Sakuya, I was the bored boyfriend waiting outside the shops for them to finish. Luckily, they weren't as bad as other girls, read Rao and Nine, but it was still something I would never hope to remember again. I did manage to get a few fancy clothes, just something the girls said would impress Waka but wouldn't give out that aura that I was desperate. They said that there was nothing worse than a desperate girl showing off. Take Rao, for example, so they told me. They had a point, Waka was terrified of Rao, as hilarious as that sounded. Her forwardness made him feel so very uncomfortable, probably not used to the forwardness of females. He did seem the old fashioned type, or what society today deemed as old fashioned.

Waka had texted me during the time I was stuck shopping. A God of sorts up there was looking over me after all!

_Got some lessons in self defence classes! (: We can stop hiding in that rabbit hole now._

Huh, he's sure been a busy bee. That was my thought at the time of reading the text, anyway. Rao and Himiko were too busy looking at the clearance area to notice me replying to him in a text.

_I may still use the rabbit hole, Ive been dragged out clothes shopping by Rao and Himiko. Fml._

I got a response almost straight away after. He must be as bored as I feel right now. That idea almost brought a smile to my face, if I weren't smiling already.

_:( clothes shopping is the work of demons. So many boring hours of waiting for my mother to do her shopping. It'll be over soon, just hang on! :P_

_If I can deal with Rao and Nine for a few years, im sure I can deal with an evening changing random clothes._

_Better you than me, dol :P _

I hadn't expected the playfulness that Waka showed in the texts. I knew I was smiling like a typical teen with a crush, I won't ever deny it. Waka seemed to free himself more through texting, probably not one hundred percent comfortable with me yet, but I hoped that would change and soon too.

"What are you grinning at?" Looking up, I saw Himiko and Sakuya both smirking at me, looking at each other like they were planning something, or sharing a secret that I clearly wasn't part of.

I remind smiling, shaking my head. "Mind your own business."

Telling Uncle Nagi though, that was another matter altogether. How was I to tell him I was hoping to go on a date with someone?

"Um, Uncle?" I asked him whilst at the dinner table.

He smiled, looking at me as be forked a piece of chicken. "Yes honey?"

Nagi had acted as my parent for as long as I could remember. My parents were killed by the dangerous flu that had gone around, yet I survived. Nagi had been dating someone at the time, but he dropped her to look after me. I felt eternally grateful to him for taking me in and raising me as his own.

"Well... what would you say if I... met someone?"

He blinked and I panicked slightly, thinking maybe he didn't get my subliminal message. Then he frowned. "You mean, like a boyfriend?"

I smiled, slightly nervous. "Well, we're not together yet, but I'd like to. And my friends says he likes me too. I know I haven't dated anyone yet, but I think I like him."

Nagi put down his fork, sighing. "I guess it was only a matter of time. I'm still used to seeing you as a little girl, but you're seventeen now and finding someone else in your life is bound to happen. My little girl is growing up!" Nagi looked like he was about to cry. It wasn't half as scary as it sounded. Izanagi was actually a rather sensitive soul, like the BFG, and he cried about things he was sensitive about. Me being one of those things. He grabbed the nearby napkin and dabbed his eyes, before blowing his nose.

"I knew this day would come when you'd be all grown up, almost. Make sure he's a nice guy and respectful of you before you make any decision though, alright? Otherwise I will have to pummel some heads. I mean it, nobody treats my girl anything less than a goddess." He wasn't kidding when he said he would start a fight, being a farm owner, Nagi was a strong man and he wasn't afraid to defend his family. He had gotten in trouble in the past for bar fights, a guy made a comment at me when I went to the pub with Nagi one time and he made a swing for him. The guy never came back to the pub again and the police let Nagi off with a warning.

"Speaking of, I was wondering whether to hire an apprentice of sorts, someone to help around the farm. What with you going to date someone and Shiranui is going to retire soon, I feel I could do with a helping hand at the farm. What do you think?"

It was strange, Nagi has never needed help at the farm before, but then again I was always there to give him a helping hand, as well as Shiranui with the sheep. I know that Nagi was in the process of training Chibi to do the same thing, but it was taking time and wasting time was not a good thing when you own a farm. I guess finding an apprentice would be a good idea, though I imagine Nagi doesn't want Waka working there. I had a feeling that would make things rather awkward.

"Maybe if you put an ad in the pub? You can ask them to keep the ad up for a while, I'm sure it's not that expensive and plenty of people pass in that pub every day." It was a suggestion, but Izanagi seemed pretty happy with the idea.

"That sounds like a good idea! I'd rather someone rather young though, perhaps your age, someone who can learn quickly. That way, I can keep my farm running in good business quickly! It's getting harder and harder to keep it running and get good money these days, they don't pay like they used to." Then he looked at me quickly. "Though don't ask your boyfriend-to-be, I wouldn't want to see it face to face."

I laughed at Izanagi's face, so uncomfortable with the idea that his face showed it all. It was rather hilarious. "Don't worry, I wasn't intending to. And he's still very new in this area, I'm not sure he's had proper time to settle down enough to get a job yet."

Izanagi blinked, taking in what I had just told him. "New to this area? You mean that new family, Yoshitsune or something? I think I know who you mean, the young lad with the little sister he takes for walks some evenings?" I nodded. "He seems like a nice lad, but I haven't spoken to him, or his mother yet. I think they just need to get more settled in really, I hear they had a lot of trouble back in the city and came here for an easier life. Just hope they don't bring the trouble back with them here." I wasn't sure what Izanagi meant by that.

"What do you mean?"

"It's just what I heard, doesn't really mean anything. You're better off asking the lad yourself, but I don't find it likely he'll tell you anytime soon. I hear the city can sometimes be a dangerous place if you get in a tangle."

I kept that at the back of my mind all the time, Waka did seem like the type that had seen too much of the world. He had gotten in trouble by day one of school already and missed the second day. I had to wonder how it would go on the third.

I found out soon that not much at all happened at school, for me or him. He arrived walking with his sister the same as he did the first day. He waved to his sister and walked swiftly towards me as soon as he spotted me.

He was smiling wide, almost too happy. Something at the back of my mind told me something wasn't right, but I was too happy to see him to pay attention.

"Hey, managed to make it to school today?" I asked harmlessly.

Waka laughed, again a bit too much, but I paid no mind. "Crawling out of my bed like a zombie, I eventually made it. I'm not one hundred percent yet, but give me time and I'll be right as rain!"

"I'm glad you're better at least. You didn't miss much, school was as dull as ever."

Waka smirked. "Glad I'm here to spice things up. Might as well get through the torture with style." He winked at me then. How unusual of him! I had never seen him so bold before, so confident. Was this maybe what Waka used to be like? Before he became the really quiet and out of the way person he is now?

We chatted for a while whilst walking to class, Waka upbeat and apologised again for leaving me alone yesterday. His mother was the overprotective type and she wasn't used to the area herself either. He told me she worked at a local grocery shop, whilst it wasn't much of a job, it paid enough for them and Waka was happy to help with the house and with his little sister whilst she was working. He was looking into getting a part time job as well, but only after he got used to the area a bit more and settled down.

I managed to tell him that I helped my uncle man the farm, my uncle Izanagi being my guardian since my parents died when I was really young. I didn't miss them really, I never knew them and I found it hard to miss anyone I didn't really know. Waka still apologised either way.

We separated for class, the only class we had together being music. They made all the classes rather dull, no matter how essential they were. I didn't really have an ambition, so to say, but I was tempted with the idea of becoming a vet. I knew the qualifications needed for that was extremely high and I wasn't sure I had the patience or the focus to be able to get those qualifications. Getting enough grades to get into university seemed like a good idea, but I knew that Izanagi would never have the money to make that a reality. It was nice to dream though and I didn't mind if I carried on with Nagi's farm afterwards. Who knew what I was going to do after high school, only time would tell and I was keeping my options open.

Lunch was much the same. I had to stay behind during maths lesson to do some extra work thanks to the teacher being late and wasting time. Some teachers just didn't care and were just doing a job, others really care about teaching and hope their students do well. That maths teacher was a bit of both, but we learnt enough from that maths lesson.

I managed to get to the canteen in time to get something for lunch luckily, I'd have hated the rest of school if I hadn't. It didn't leave me with much time to catch up with my friends and Waka was sitting with Abe and Kamo this time. I didn't mind, he needed other friends and I hardly expected him to wait so long. Himiko and Sakuya took their time to tease me about him not sitting here, but I paid no mind. I truly wasn't bothered.

It was after school where something of real relevance happened. I was on my way out of the school grounds when I felt someone hug me from behind and panting, like someone had been running really fast. It freaked me out, jumping, I turned really quickly to see the smiling face of Waka.

I slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "You're an idiot! You near gave me a heart attack!"

Waka held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not sorry, the look on your face made it all worth it." He smiled, lowering his hands before fidgeting slightly. "Listen, I was wondering... and that's a pretty cliché start but here we go. Would you, Amaterasu, go out to dinner, with me?"

I felt a huge smile appear on my face as I turned to fully face him. "I'd love to! Tomorrow?" Apparently I was that excited.

Waka blinked in surprise, before smiling slightly in regret. "I would but I'm extremely busy, since joining in self defence classes and helping my mother. But I'm thinking I can go Friday night? Maybe a film afterwards? I'll let you pick."

I chuckled, he was adorable sometimes. "It's not a problem, I forgot how busy you could be. I can do Friday night, my uncle just needs to know so I can get some of the farm done for him, just so it's less on his plate."

"Alright, that's good! I can pick you up at 5:30 if that's alright?"

I smiled. "5:30'll do perfectly."

"Until then... _adieu._" He backed away slowly, winking and the bowing. "_Ma cherie._" Before he turned, called Kaguya over to walk back home.

My smile didn't wipe off my face the whole way home. Nagi was suspicious and I was sure a few strangers on the streets were very wary of me as well. I might as well have just broken out into a dance like those American Musicals often portray. I wondered if America was actually like that, happy enough for you to break out in a dance randomly? Anything was possible! With America being such a loud country compared to our little nation of Japan, I wouldn't be half surprised.

I broke the news to Nagi, not sure what reaction to expect from him.

"Oh, he piped up and asked then, finally?" Was his reply.

"He asked just before I left school, he walks his sister back home from school every day since they go to the same school, it sees easier for them really."

"Nice to know he's a caring boy. When is the date? I'm hoping I can have a bit of your help before you go, I haven't had a response about the apprenticeship yet, but it's still early days yet. If you don't mind?"

I smiled, patting his shoulder as I passed him to wash my plate up. "No, I don't mind at all! I asked him to delay slightly so it gives me time to help you and he doesn't mind. He spends his time helping his mother handle the house and his sister with her work as well, so he's usually pretty busy on that front. It's not going to be until Friday, he's told me he's too busy until then."

Nagi nodded. "That's good, he sounds like a hard worker with a good domestic sense. I'm proud of you, that's exactly the type I'd hope you'd like." He smiled then chuckled. "That sounded rather rude of me, but I know my princess only deserves the best, a real man who can do his jobs for his family and protect them with all his might." Typical Nagi, always had a sense of righteousness about him. That's how he got along so well with the police officers and how he only got away with a warning. He loved drinking with the other coppers at the pub and they got along like a house on fire. Especially with officer Shiki and Daigo. I had spoken to them before and they always had entertaining stories to tell, but they never let a name go. Confidentiality and all that. They didn't have much time to go to the pub that often anymore, considering they were working on a drug gang case that has apparently travelled from the cities and heading to the villages, such as this one. They had no idea why, probably because it was a lot quieter and easier to hide such operations in a village like this.

"He says he'll pick me up on Friday, so you can meet him and see what you think then." I told him and Nagi nodded, smiling.

"I'll give him a chance, but just so you know if he hurts you, then I'll break his nose."

I winced, imagining the image. "I'd rather you not. I'll let you know if you need to punch him, don't worry." Hopefully, that day will never come. I wouldn't be surprised if something happened, I'm not naive enough to believe everything will be happy and dandy, but he'd have to do something pretty big to piss me off enough to want to set Nagi on him. Again, hopefully, that day will never come.

The next day, Waka looked like he had gotten worse again. Hoping that his illness had passed, I thought he would have recovered a bit more from being outside in the fresh air and being in a bit of company, but this was not the case. Today, he looked pale, almost sweaty and his eyes didn't appear all there. Why he decided to get out of bed I had no clue, anyone else would have just gone back to bed and not bothered getting out. He looked terrible!

I hurried towards his side, Kaguya still by his side looking worried. "Waka, you look terrible!" I didn't mean to say it so loud, but he honest to God looked really terrible. He looked like he had a bad stomach bug and he still struggled to school anyway.

Waka smiled, but it didn't seem anything like the smile I saw yesterday. "Gee, thanks. Yeah I know, I thought I was getting better. Guess yesterday was just lucky."

Kaguya seemed to shake her head. "I told you, you should've just stayed in bed, Mum wouldn't have minded it!"

Waka shook his head. "No, I've missed too much of school already and I've only just started. I can't miss too many days, otherwise they'd think I was taking the piss."

Kaguya sighed, "I'm sure they wouldn't, brother, not when you obviously look and feel terrible. Mum would have never let you leave in that sort of state!"

Waka was going to protest, before I cut in. "Look, Waka, your sister is right. You don't look well, you look like you're about to throw up."

Waka swallowed, hard, probably the mention of throwing up made his body want to do the action, "Don't remind me." He took a deep breath, before letting it out.

I shook my head. "That's it, I'm taking you home. Kaguya, can you be a dear and go to our office in the school and tell them where we have gone? Can you do that for me?"

Kaguya smiled and nodded. "Sure thing, thanks for taking care of my brother, lady!" She turned and ran towards the high school, dodging around the walking students, some who were watching us and others who were too busy in their conversation to bother seeing what we were up to.

Waka was scowling, looking away almost like a petulant child. "I told you I'm fine, I can handle school for a day."

I shook my head. "And I'm telling you that a teacher would just send you straight back home if they took one look at you. You honestly look that bad." I took his arm in mine, like a gentleman should do with a woman, but he was so sick I felt it was safer to hold him close. "Come on, I'll take you home and get you in bed, you look ready to collapse."

Waka smiled tiredly, "I was hoping it wasn't so obvious, I didn't want my sister to walk here alone again... and..." He looked down as if embarrassed. "I wanted to see you, guess that was a stupid idea."

I blinked, shocked by this admission then smiled wide again. "That's rather sweet, thanks Waka. But I'd rather you stayed alive rather than showing up to school half dead on your feet."

Waka laughed. "Yeah, that's why it was a rather stupid idea, but I really wanted to see you. Home is rather lonely being the only one there even when I'm sick."

I put my palm on his forehead, feeling a fever coming on. "You're burning up, we better hurry you home." Luckily, Waka managed to stay aware enough to lead me to his house. He only lived three minutes away from the school, close to the village centre in a public enough area. His house looked a lot like the other houses and I could see how I would easily forget which was his house out of all the houses that were there. The only definable thing that made Waka's house obvious was the wolf statues on either side of their front door, standing as tall as gods, probably were a monument of a certain god that I wasn't familiar with.

Waka took off his bag from his back, ruffling inside as we still walked through the gate to his front door. He smiled as he brought out his house keys, picking the front door key out of all the keys and handing it to me.

Opening the door, I could see that the house was rather domestic and small. It didn't have much in the house, a few pictures of Waka, Kaguya and their mother all three together. Then there were a few hidden behind of who I assumed to be their father. Waka had told me of the fate of his father, dying in a war against the Americans. It was sad, but war always came with casualties, but Waka never truly forgave the country for taking his father. He was still a teenager, just as I was, as my Granma Orange once told me; "Teenagers will always have those moments where the demons inside of them show out and they grow a sudden hatred of many things for unexplained reasons. It is perfectly normal to show hate and rage at certain people for certain things because your eyes are still opening." Granma and Grandpa Orange were seen as the grandparents of this village, they didn't have any children, but they didn't need to. The village was their children and they were the most popular and enlightening couple I have ever met. Even today, I still go over to visit them and enjoy listening to their tales of their old days. If you ever had a problem, you always go to Granma and Grandpa Orange. Most of the teenagers saw Granma Orange as Mrs though, since she was a part time teacher at the school to give the children a helping hand. She loved to help out and she enjoyed having the extra money and being able to do jobs for society as well.

The rest of the house seemed rather domestic and family built, not expensive and just about lived in. The house was very clean, almost spotless, but the amount of ornaments and family photos that were around showed that someone was clearly at home in this house. Waka hadn't lived in this house for very long, so probably hadn't had the chance to fully make a home in his house, but it was still a lovely house either way.

I was broken out of my thoughts when I heard Waka coughing. Checking on him, I saw he had grown more pale, almost green and he was swallowing a lot. "Shit, you look like you're about to-" Waka shook his head, breaking away from my hold and stumbling quickly towards what I could only assume was the bathroom. He shut the door, locking it with a click before all I heard was retching. I winced, feeling more sorry for Waka for having to go through such a thing. The poor guy, he seemed fine yesterday, better than fine! How did he suddenly take a turn for the worse?

Feeling awkward in the living room hearing the retching not far away, I decided to investigate, finding Waka's room really quickly by the name on his door. His room upon opening was medium sized, something I'd have been happy enough with, giving enough privacy that he needed and yet not big enough to seem scary either. he had a decent sized bed for himself with plain bed sheets. He didn't seem to be a big fan of anything as far as I could see, but he seemed to have a rather large collection of books as well as a computer in his room that didn't look like it got used too often. It seemed like something he merely did his work on or to browse the weather on the occasion. He seemed a bigger reader than anything else so far I could see. He had a few CDs of some good music he liked to listen to, nothing notable and a few magazines on karate and other self defence classes. So he was really serious about his karate lessons? It left me wondering more on what had happened to the poor boy back in the city where he came from. A boy with a mysterious past, that left me wondering and worrying.

I heard the door open and ran out into the corridor to catch Waka leaning against the doorway of the bathroom. He really looked sick, I was worried and wondered if I should ask to call his mother back from work.

I walked quickly to his side. "Do you need me to get you a bucket?"

It took a while, but Waka nodded. He didn't speak , probably scared to speak after the amount of throwing up he did. I didn't blame him. Grabbing his arm, I pulled him quickly to his room. "Here, you get into bed and I'll get you a bucket and a glass of water. Don't bother to change just get in the bed, you need your rest."

The boy almost stumbled, weak and extremely tired it seemed, but he still managed a quiet reply. "Sorry." Was all he said.

I had to smile sadly at him. "Don't be sorry, you can't help being sick. Here, let's get you into bed." It was a task, but eventually Waka managed to get comfortably in bed whilst I went to fetch a glass of tap water and a bucket just in case. I placed the bucket on the floor and the glass of water in his hand, hoping he had the strength to hold it. He did, luckily, and he took a sip before placing it on the bedside table.

He looked at me, a guilty look on his face. "I wasn't... entirely honest with you." I felt a slight urge of panic, until Waka carried on speaking quickly. "I came to school because I wanted to see you, but I knew you'd take me home if I argued, so I'd see you for longer. Sorry. It was a childish thing to do."

I shook my head, amused by his boyish attitude. "That's adorable Waka, but you don't need to make excuses to come see me, I'm happy to spend time with you. It was still really stupid of you to try to make it to school, but it was nice seeing you again today." I noticed that Waka hadn't bothered to take off his hat, which seemed really unusual to me. He never took it off, even in school and claimed it was a tradition when asked to take it off in school, disrespectful to take it off except to go to sleep. Why hadn't he taken it off now? "You should probably take your hat off, that can't be comfortable to sleep on."

I saw a flash of panic and worry in his eyes, that made me even more curious. "No, it's fine I'll take it off when you leave."

What was so important about that hat? What was he hiding under his hat and wig? "I'd rather make sure you're alright before I leave, come on, just take it off and I'll put it away for you. Saves you getting out of bed again"

Waka seemed to contemplate for a long time, longer than I thought was normal. I was almost ready to talk again, when I heard his quiet voice; "Promise you won't tell? Or laugh?"

I sat down on his bed beside him, putting a friendly smile on. "I promise, don't worry I won't mention it again."

Waka nodded and then proceeded to take the hat off. I wasn't sure what I expected, but it wasn't this.

Underneath the hat and wig that Waka had been wearing was thick blond locks, something I would have expected a female to be having. It wasn't a simple dirty blond or a common blond, it was bright yellow, almost golden as it shone in the light of the sun bursting through the curtains I forgot to close for him. It was unexpected, to say the least, and I understood why he hid it so carefully as he did. How he managed it, I had no idea! I was shocked he had managed to hide that much hair in that hat. How was that possible? Even with the wig, as cool as it looked, wouldn't people notice bright golden hair? Apparently not.

It didn't change my opinion of him, it was a stupid idea to judge someone just because they had a strange hair style. Actually, because of the hair, it made him seem so much more innocent, more adorable. It would break the poor boy's ego if he knew exactly what I was thinking. It had me smiling.

Apparently the smile made Waka relax as he stopped hiding behind the sheets of his bed. I couldn't tell from him lying on his bed how long his hair really was, but I could tell it was quite something. If he hated his hair so much, I had to wonder; why didn't he cut it?

"So, you're not... horrified?" He asked, uncertain, doubt cropping up in his voice.

"Wha?" That was a bit of a no brainer there, good work Ammy. "No, of course not! I was simply surprised, I wasn't expecting you to have such long hair. I was worried you'd be bald under that hat and wig of yours!"

Waka laughed, then proceeded to cough. "Bad idea," he managed to gasp out. He patted his chest a few times, before trying again. "No such luck, I've just got long hair, long blond hair."

"But, why do you wear a wig and hat all the time?"

Waka looked at me like I was an idiot. I didn't blame him, I didn't word the question very well."

"I mean, why do you bother to wear a wig instead of cutting your hair?"

Understanding dawned upon Waka and he shook his head. "Never had the heart to, my dad always liked me with long hair so... I kept it."

I sighed. "Waka, have you thought maybe you should live the life you want to rather than the way you think your dad wants you to?" I saw he was going to argue, so I quickly carried on talking, "I mean, yes I never knew my parents, I don't know if they were horrible people or if they were the nicest in the world, but I just hope and believe that they would be happy enough with me living the life that I want to live. Isn't that what most parents want for their children?"

He seemed conflicted, torn between believing and trying to be the best for his deceased father and living the life that he really wants to live.

I stroked his head before I realised I was doing it, but it was too late to take back the action. "Just think about it, for now just sleep this virus off. It'll probably do you some good." I got up and headed for the curtains, closing them and the room darkened to a comfortable soothing brightness, enough to relax and be able to sleep in. "Do you want me to call your mother or go grab her? I don't mind if you want me to."

Waka shook his head, turning onto his side to face me. "I'll be fine... trust me. I'll be right as rain in time for our date." He smiled tiredly, snuggling adorably into his pillow.

I smiled, "You sure? Do you want me to get you anything?"

Waka, still smiling slightly, shook his head again. "Seriously, I'll be fine."

Nodding and patting Waka's knee a few times, I said my goodbye before leaving, making sure to close his bedroom door and the front door. On the walk home, I couldn't take his air off of my mind or my worry for his sudden sickness. Hopefully, he would be alright.

I didn't see Waka again until we had our date. I texted him once a day to make sure he was alright and if the date was happening. He always replied:

_I'm fine, don't worry just hacking like a dog :( I should be better by Friday, I wouldn't miss it for the world :D_

It was reassuring, given that he had the mood to even put smileys in his texts, but not by much. I always preferred to see a person with my own eyes to see how they were rather than believing the words "I'm fine". It seemed easy to pass and so generic I find it rather hard to believe. Being a female, I was used to hearing the whole "I'm fine" lie, the biggest lie humanity ever made.

I never told Himiko or Sakuya about the date, I did love those two as girl friends, but I didn't want them to interfere. I just wanted to date Waka my way, rather than be told how to act, what to do and what to say. That didn't appeal to me and I'm sure Waka wouldn't have appreciated it either. I was nervous, there was no denying that, I was nervous, scared, excited and dreading it all at the same time. I was probably about as emotional as a pregnant woman (well, not quite), and changing my mind on what to wear constantly. I finally decided upon a lovely red dress, more of a rose red rather than scarlet red, I didn't want to give the impression I was desperate. I had on low heels, I never was fond of heels but they were simple, black and a rose coloured handbag which had a rose on the clipper as well. I wasn't sure if I was overdoing it, but it was probably the only really nice thing I had in my wardrobe. I had some skirts and jumpers, T shirts, jeans and a few other everyday wear clothes, but nothing fancy at all.

Still, it impressed my uncle enough.

"Wow, Amaterasu, you actually look like a princess!" He had almost tears in his eyes.

I couldn't help the blush at the compliment, "Aw, uncle, you're embarrassing me." I was smiling regardless, giving Nagi a hug to comfort him. It didn't matter, either way he was probably going to cry. He seemed more proud than actually upset, proud that I was growing up, finally finding someone I want to try getting along with in that way.

The doorbell rang just after the time Waka said he was arriving. I wasn't too upset that he was slightly late, he had probably been waiting outside for a while and was trying to chalk up his guts to come up to the door and ring the doorbell. I had a smile on my face imagining that, the poor boy.

Answering the door, Waka looked... rather dashing, actually! Not a word I would normally use, but he looked good! He wore smart black trousers, shoes and a nice shirt, but that wasn't what surprised me the most. Waka's hair was short! Shorter, at any rate. He wasn't wearing his hat or wig, instead he had his hair out and down, not quite reaching his shoulders. I knew for a fact that his hair used to be longer than that, last time it went way past his shoulders and the other tell tale was the ends of his hair were uneven. I didn't question it though, he still looked really good despite that.

He smiled widely, he looked much better as well after he was throwing up a lot a few days ago! "Hello, Amaterasu, you look really beautiful tonight." He bowed, not too low to be embarrassing, but enough for me to feel appreciated.

"Well, you got yourself a fine gentleman here, princess!" I turned, letting Nagi get a better look at Waka. Whilst the boy seemed nervous, he smiled and greeted Nagi in the same way. "Alright son, no need to please me too much. Just be back before midnight and no funny business. I may not be her father, thingiewhatsit, but I'll be damned if I'm not treated like it. So, no funny business, son."

Waka nodded, "No problem, Mr Omikami, I'll escort Amaterasu safely back home when we are done, I promise." The smile did it for Nagi as he nodded happily and walked back into the house, giving us the privacy we really wanted. I smiled as Waka grinned at getting what he wanted. I wanted to laugh, but I held back. Turning away, he held out his arm for me to take. "Are you ready, my darling?"

Taking his arm with my own, I grinned back, "I'm ready, let us be on our way, deary."

The restaurant Waka had chosen seemed a bit fancy for either of our tastes, being honest. An expensive sushi restaurant he had managed to book. The place screamed fancy, what with tanks with live lobsters in them and waiters wearing suits. I had a feeling this was going to be awkward with the atmosphere we were feeling. It felt entirely too formal.

Waka seemed to share my concern as soon as he looked inside. Clearly he had no idea, probably in his delirium of his sickness he didn't check the prices. Sitting down, a seat for two by the window with a candle lit nicely, even with the clothes we wore, we felt underdressed. The prices on the list were rather... cheaper than I thought, but still not something I was comfortable Waka spending with.

And it just got worse on and on. We could barely think of a conversation to start with, anything we wanted to touch upon seemed inappropriate or tense. Given that most people were talking about work, their family or their money, what were two students to talk about in this sort of place?

We ended up instead just having a main meal and finishing there, neither of us being able to bear the area much longer. It hurt Waka's pocket, I saw the look on his face as he paid for the meal, almost a wince as he looked like a broken man, sobbing for his lost money.

"Well, that was a complete waste of time and money." He seemed upset with himself and I was quick to reassure him.

"Don't worry, Waka, you're still new around the area. How were you to know?"

He shook his head, "I should have realised if I was checking properly."

Patting Waka's arm, I smiled instead, "How about we just go to the cinema? Watch a silly film together? That should end the evening on a high."

"We could... we can go watch a chick flick." He shut up as he saw my eyebrow raise as if to ask if he was joking, "or we can just watch some action or adventure film."

"That's more like it! You'll learn soon enough that I'm nothing like most girls." I winked to put him at ease. He chuckled, relaxing more as we made our way to the films.

We proceeded mostly taking the piss out of the films, laughing louder than we should have done and making crude comments during certain parts of the film. Some people got angry, annoyed that we were ruining the emersion of the film, but there were only three more people besides us watching the film due to how late at night it was and the film had been shown for a while too. I had wanted to see the film for a while and Waka didn't seem to care which film we watched, so it was a win win situation, I hoped.

I had a great time anyway and I'd like to believe Waka did as well. We were still laughing about the film as he walked me back to my house, holding my hand the whole way. I got onto the steps of the house, Waka stopping nearby but still holding my hand. He smiled as he stared into my eyes for a while until it become a little uncomfortable.

He smiled wider, before taking one hand of mine, "Thank you, Ammy, I had a lovely time and I hope we can do it again. This time, I'll pick a better restaurant that is more our style and not for... shall I say, snobs?" We both laughed, still on a high from the film.

"Yes, thank you Waka. I really enjoyed tonight, I'd love to go out again one day."

Smiling wider, Waka took the hand and kissed the back of it. Throwing his hand up in the air, he bowed exaggeratedly, "Farewell, _ma cherie! _Until we meet again!" He turned and made his way back as he heard my reply of "goodbye!" and spotted me waving. He waved back, then turned and walked back down the street to his own home.

I went back inside the house, Nagi was sat asleep in the chair. Still smiling and shaking my head at his typical antics, I put his blanket over him and proceeded to head to my room, getting ready for bed and still I was laughing about the film.

* * *

Well, I kind of rushed by the end because I just wanted this chapter done and dusted for you guys! I hope it was worth the wait and you still want to read more of this story, I'll do my best to update quicker if I can!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you enjoy the many to still come! c: bear in mind I may cause some time skips soonish, because High school was really boring and dull. If anyone argues, you had a fantastic life and I hate you. :P

~Blackie


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